Milford Road - A call for action

Crash statistics for the five-year period from 2012 to 2016 show there were 139 crashes made up of 65 injury crashes and 74 non-injury crashes.

Of those, three were fatal crashes. There were 30 people seriously injured and 83 minor injuries.

Types of crashes on the road fell into mostly three categories: bend lost control/head on 61 per cent, rear end/ obstruction 17 per cent and straight road lost control/head on 15 per cent.

Te Anau St John station manager John Lambeth thinks the number of crashes on that road would be proportional to any other road that had the same amount of traffic.

It’s the driving habits that make Lambeth raise his eyebrows though.

Tourism is expected to boom in coming years to New Zealand, and Fiordland, and in particular Milford Sound, is a drawcard for thousands.

Apart from flying, travelling the Milford Road is the only way to get there, which means thousands more will be on the road in years to come.

No-one was going to turn people [tourists] down from coming to this area as it would always be a popular, Lambeth said. ‘‘Collectively, what do we do from our point? I think just more signage, more education.’’

Gorge Hill, in between Mossburn and Te Anau, had been an area notorious for crashes in the past.

Double yellow lines had been painted onto the road a few years ago and to date there had not been any issues there of significance, Lambeth said. ‘‘The arrows seem to be quite effective.’’

It was common knowledge that the locals have to readjust driving habits to accommodate the tourist, he said.

‘‘The locals here are probably quite used to the indecision or indecisiveness of some of the visitors coming through our town.’’

Where they could, people would encourage visitors to take buses, telling them they were missing out on the scenery being behind the wheel, Lambeth said.

People were often very impatient and unaware of the time frame to travel to Milford, he said. ‘‘They’re getting mixed messages in terms of that drive time so they tend to be running late and then sort of drive accordingly.’’

Consistent messaging on drive times would be one of the messages that needs to be reinforced, Lambeth said.

‘‘Once they leave the rental car companies how well are they informed at that point of the challenges ahead of them? Rental car companies will tell them of the issues ahead of them but do they comprehend it?’’

Te Anau volunteer fire brigade chief fire officer Graeme Moffat said the crash on Tuesday was not east to deal with. ‘‘There are difficult jobs and sometimes they’re not easy to forget. Unfortunately we seem to see quite a few of them.’’

Out of the 107 calls the brigade attended last year, about 30 of them were crashes, Moffat said. ‘‘Every now and then, every year or two years, we seem to get these really bad ones.’’

The brigade has a close relationship with police and St John in Te Anau and have trained together on exercises.

‘‘We’ve gone over worst-case scenarios like a bus versus bus, which is probably one of our biggest fears up there.’’

The number of crashes involving tourist drivers was not specifically a local problem but an issue occurring nationally, he said. ‘‘It just seems thar the spotlight’s shone on the tourists all the time when it’s not necessarily them all the time either.’’

Moffat has been with the brigade for about 32 years. Speaking personally, dealing with with foreign drivers was a part of living in Te Anau.

A self-employed electrician, because he worked around the area and often in Milford Sound it was part of his job.

‘‘Watching for tourist drivers and roads and driving is in my health and safety plan as one of my hazards.’’

There was not a day that went by that he would not hear some sort of story about somebody being on the wrong side of the road or crossing the centre line, Moffat said.

Who is responsible for bringing the crash rate down?

Southland District mayor Gary Tong, a former police officer, has attended his fair share of crashes.

As mayor of a district that spreads up to Fiordland, he said while crashes were horrific, there was only so much that could be done to make the roads safe.

At the end of the day it came down to personal responsibility for those behind the wheel, he said. There had been significant improvement made to the road in recent years and it was not as bad as it had been, Tong said.

There is talk of staggering the volume of tourists going in to Milford Sound, in the hope that it might reduce congestion.

Associate Transport Minister David Bennett said the Government was working hard to reduce all crashes on all roads. ‘‘It takes a range of organisations working together to improve road safety across all parts of the system.’’

Billions had been spent to improve difficult roads and make them safer, like widening lanes and installing barriers, Bennet said.

‘‘There is an ongoing programme of practical safety improvements happening in and around the Te Anau area, from installing rumble strips and directional arrows to installing safety barriers and improving rest areas.’’

The Government was working with local government and the private sector like airlines and rental companies to provide clear information in a range of languages about New Zealand roads and rules at every stage of a visitor’s trip.