Remutaka Hill road speed cuts on way
A troubled section of a lower North Island state highway slated for a speed reduction has claimed seven lives in the past 10 years.
As well as the fatal crashes there have been 27 serious-injury crashes and 423 crashes on the Remutaka Hill section of State Highway 2 between Kaitoke and Featherston, north of Wellington.
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency is proposing a speed limit reduction to 60kph as part of Road to Zero, which aims to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured by 40% in a decade.
Transporting New Zealand chief executive Nick Leggett, whose group represents trucking firms, agreed reducing road deaths must be a priority, but said there was a bigger issue at play.
Trucks moved 93% of freight in New Zealand and a blanket approach of cutting speed was not the answer to reducing the death toll, he said.
Upskilling drivers, improving road design, more testing for alcohol and drugs, and making sure everyone was wearing seat
belts must also be part of the response. Remutaka Hill was a dangerous road and a lot could be done to make it safer with improved design, Leggett said.
He supported reducing speed limits where evidence showed it was a factor in high crash rates, but lower limits came at a cost. ‘‘For the transport industry, time is money.’’ Ultimately, it was the consumer who paid, he said.
Regular commuter Dennis Page supports the limit on the hill being reduced from 100kph to 60kph, but also wants to see the road significantly upgraded. There are corners where large trucks struggle and he has been forced to back around blind corners when trucks become stuck.
Waka Kotahi director regional relationships Emma Speight said crash statistics for the hill were more than just numbers.
‘‘These are victims, all of whom have families and friends who carry the devastating consequences of these incidents. We do not,
and will not, apologise for putting safety first.’’
Waka Kotahi was aware that since the recent announcements on road safety and reviews of highway speed limits, there had been calls for more emphasis on driver education and training, she said.
She believed everyone could be a better driver, but ‘‘caution’’ was needed when arguing more skilled drivers would lower the road toll. International research showed it could actually ‘‘increase’’ the risk.
Speight said all drivers made mistakes and lowering speed limits was the best way to reduce crashes’ ‘‘devastating’’ impact.
Waka Kotahi is also looking at traffic lights for the SH2 Moonshine Hill Rd intersection on SH2 in Upper Hutt. Over the past 10 years there have been 40 crashes, 19 people injured and one fatality.
From 2011 to 2020, there were more than 2300 crashes on SH2 between Ngāūranga and Featherston, with 15 people killed and 149 seriously injured.