Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Western Bay Police: No room for mistakes on deadly Katikati-Tauranga road

By Chris Steel
Editor·NZ Herald·
25 Jan, 2018 04:30 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

A_030315jb03bop Increasing traffic volume on SH2 between Katikati and Tauranga has been linked to rising road crashes. Photo/File

A_030315jb03bop Increasing traffic volume on SH2 between Katikati and Tauranga has been linked to rising road crashes. Photo/File

Increasing traffic volume on SH2 between Katikati and Tauranga has been linked to rising road crashes.

Eighteen people died over a three-year period on SH2 from 2012 to 2016 and 35 were seriously injured. The 2017 statistics were not available, but three weeks into 2018 there has already been one fatality.

Western Bay Road Policing co-ordinator Acting Senior Sergeant Wayne Hunter says it is not the road, but the drivers.

"The problem is that now there are a lot more vehicles on the road. If you make a mistake, the odds are much higher you will hit an oncoming vehicle.

"The same with the rural roads coming off the highway. If you misjudge, the odds are now higher you will hit an oncoming vehicle.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"If it was four-laned then it would be like the Tauranga Eastern Link. It's driver mistakes, distraction and even fatigue that is the issue."

Surprisingly fatigue features a lot in our highway crashes, Hunter says.

"I put it down to drivers nearly home, after say driving from Auckland, so they relax and their concentration on their driving is not as good as it would normally be and mistakes are made."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Katikati Police Sergeant Steve Hindmarsh says this is a dangerous piece of highway if drivers did not drive to the conditions.

"I see part of the problem being that because there has suddenly been a large increase of traffic over recent years — the more road users, the more crashes that will occur."

Most of the time crashes are caused by driver error, whether it be driving too fast for the conditions, inattention, fatigue, drink driving or poor decision making, particularly when it involves overtaking or pulling out from intersections on to the highway, Hindmarsh said.

"That stretch of highway is unforgiving to those who make mistakes. It's not a flat, straight piece of highway with a lot of overtaking opportunities. If a driver makes a mistake or poor decision then chances are, considering heavy traffic volumes, they will collide with another vehicle.

"If it were a deserted piece of South Island highway then chances are high they wouldn't cash into another vehicle if they made the same type of mistake.

"Overtaking or speeding generally won't get you any further ahead in your journey."

Katikati Community Board member, firefighter and driver Brendan Gibbs said roads were only as dangerous as a motorist made them.

"By that I mean we need to be fully aware of things like speed, weather, road conditions — the sheer volume of traffic is such that you cannot ever make a mistake.

"I find that people either drive to fast for the conditions or they drive too slow at times, causing people to take unnecessary risks."

He believed the road did need upgrading to cope with the volume of traffic.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"There are areas where there definitely needs to be more passing lanes. If you are heading from Waihi to Tauranga the first passing lane is around 30-35km away. Following trucks and slower vehicles can cause frustration when patience is needed. Coming from Tauranga isn't much better."

There are areas where safety improvements could be made, where the camber of the road isn't the best and certainly a four-lane road is needed to take away the sheer volume of traffic, he said.

Hindmarsh agreed.

"Ideally if money was not an issue the roads would be straightened to eliminate any bends.

"There would be more passing lanes or four-lane stretches so people wouldn't pass in stupid places and there would be more median barriers so when people fell asleep at the wheel they wouldn't cross into the path of poor motorists coming the other way.

"There would be turning bays into all side roads to give safety to right hand turning vehicles. The highway can be made safer to eliminate fatalities by motorists who make mistakes — being reckless or not — when driving."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

'Serious injuries': Crash closes highway

11 Jul 05:30 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Mixed verdicts delivered for Tribesmen accused of murdering one of their own

11 Jul 05:00 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Hardly surviving': Sales fall after dairy raid

11 Jul 03:29 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

'Serious injuries': Crash closes highway

'Serious injuries': Crash closes highway

11 Jul 05:30 AM

Emergency services are responding to a two-vehicle crash which has closed SH29.

Mixed verdicts delivered for Tribesmen accused of murdering one of their own

Mixed verdicts delivered for Tribesmen accused of murdering one of their own

11 Jul 05:00 AM
'Hardly surviving': Sales fall after dairy raid

'Hardly surviving': Sales fall after dairy raid

11 Jul 03:29 AM
Substation fault cuts power to thousands in Tauranga

Substation fault cuts power to thousands in Tauranga

11 Jul 03:01 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP