First steps to safer roads

Travel on State Highway One through regional areas should soon be safer, though slower, as eight high-risk intersections are upgraded.

The Transport Agency is introducing Intersection Speed Zones at the intersections, which it says will help prevent death and serious injuries on regional state highways.

Electronic signs will reduce the speed limit on the state highway, usually from 100km/h to 60km/h or

70km/h if a vehicle is turning into or out of a side road.

They are already being used on

13 intersections, where the agency says they have created minimal delays for road users.

Of 10 intersections on State Highway One, two are in Northland ( SH1/Mangapai Rd and SH1/ Shoemaker Rd), and six in the Waikato ( SH29/SH29 near Hinuera, SH1/SH29 at Piarere, SH27/Horrell Rd at Te Puninga, SH1B/Taylor Rd; SH25/Hauraki Rd, near Thames, and SH29/Hopkins Rd,south of Matamata). The last two are in the South Island.

All 10 are among the 200 highest risk intersections in the country.

When local people were consulted about the signs, they often recommended the construction of roundabouts instead to improve road safety.

However the authority says roundabouts are costly and take significant time to plan and build, and that the signs are a quicker way of improving road safety.

All well and good but now we need to see some similarly practical steps to deal with Auckland’s traffic congestion problems; congestion is now estimated to be costing us at least $1.3b a year in lost productivity.