Smoothing out rough roads

Small safety improvements on treacherous stretches of Manawatu¯ rural highways could cut crash rates by as much as 50 per cent, the AA says.

Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter on Sunday announced $20 million of safety upgrades for rural state highways, many of them in Manawatu¯ and Horowhenua.

The roads include State Highway 3 between Palmerston North and Ashhurst, SH54 between Palmerston North and Feilding, SH57 between Shannon and Ashhurst, and SH56 between Shannon and Palmerston North.

The funding is part of the Safety Boost Programme, which provided funding to upgrade SH1 between Bulls and Foxton, and SH3 between Whangaehu and Bulls, in 2018.

In a statement, Genter said the safety upgrades would include rumble strips, roadside safety barriers and shoulder widening.

They could be quickly installed during the summer months, she said. AA road safety spokesman Dylan Thomsen said the measures might seem minor, but they had a big effect.

Research showed rumble strips would usually result in a 25 per cent reduction in serious or fatal crashes, while a wider centre line could drop the number of crashes by about 50 per cent, he said.

‘‘They don’t seem like they would make that much of a difference, but they really do.’’

Safety measures on rural highways were needed, as they had among the highest crash rates in the country.

Furthermore, data from KIWIRAP – an assessment programme AA contributes to, which measures the crash risk of highways – put some of the highways at the second-highest risk rating, Thomsen said.

‘‘If you are going to look at making a difference in crash reduction, then rural and regional highways are a good place to look.’’

Ideally, there would be barriers along the sides of highways and median barriers, but Thomsen said that was logistically difficult.

Median barriers required wider roadways, which was not feasible without land aquisitions in some areas, he said.

However, the idea a median would prevent almost all crashes was not correct.

Thomson said the most common type of crash was a car going off the left side of the road, making things like rumble strips a great option.

Many of the roads affected run through the Rangitı¯kei electorate, held by National MP Ian Mckelvie.

He said many of the roads were terrible for crashes, such as SH57 south of Tokomaru and SH56 near O¯ piki.

Putting barriers on the sides of roads could create problems, though, as it made it difficult for tractors to pull over for other motorists to pass, he said.