SH2 bend 'fatal trap waiting to spring'

By Carly Udy
It was only a matter of time before someone was killed on the dangerous Bethlehem corner on State Highway 2 where a teen died this week - and more deaths will occur if nothing is done to fix it.
That's the view local resident Jim Adamson, who is calling for the concrete median barrier to be carried up the hill from the 80kmh stretch to the 50kmh area approaching Bethlehem.
"If you're coming from Bethlehem to Tauranga the cars just fly around in that outside lane. It only needs for one thing to go wrong and they're straight into you," he said.
Seventeen-year-old Jordan Crockett died and seven others were injured after two cars collided and burst into flames near Kinloch Drive at Bethlehem.
"I actually said to my wife there's going to be someone killed here shortly - and lo and behold someone's dead. Nothing gets done until somebody is killed, that's what brasses me off," Mr Adamson told the Bay of Plenty Times.
The Bethlehem man believed the bend was "a death trap waiting to spring".
Of the accident he said: "People have been saying 'racing' but don't assume racing. You can get out of control even going slow and the conditions were just all right for that to happen.
"It's just a matter of time before it happens again."
Mr Adamson continued: "We've seen a couple of other head-on collisions there in the same spot and cars have been written off from over the bank.
"It's just a bad mistake in the road. I think the engineers have got something to answer for.
"Every time I travel along there and I've got somebody in the car with me I always say 'If you're driving here keep well left on this corner, they come roaring around in front of you'."
Mr Adamson said a new barrier had recently been put up on the the inside of the left-hand corner because a car had nearly gone down the creek but he believed it would not solve the problems.
The man who saved the life of teenager Eli Muller, 16, who was the passenger in the burning car belonging to Mr Crockett, said he too believed the road was dangerous.
Mr Muller is the third victim Mr Rothwell has known personally who has been involved in a crash on that same stretch of road.
He had a warning for others.
"It's a bad corner, it tightens up. If you're going too quick it just spits you up across the road.
"If speeders were to see the sort of gruesome sight I did, it might make them think just that split second more and back off."
The officer in charge of traffic in the Western Bay, Senior Sergeant Ian Campion, confirmed there had been other crashes on the stretch of road in question.
But he said that this time the cause of the crash was speed, not the road.
"It is an 80kmh area. The cause of this crash was speed not the road, so I just highlight that. Speed was definitely the major causation factor, coupled with a wet road."
Mr Campion said he had discussed issues about the bend with the road controlling authority close to 20 months ago. As a result, the road markings were changed in an effort to provide a better arch.
Martin Parkes, transportation operations manager for Tauranga City Council, told the Bay Times he agreed it was not the piece of road that was dangerous, it was the drivers.
"We have been looking at this piece of State Highway 2 for a little while and are going be looking at it in the next couple of weeks with our consultants - not just from an accident point of view," he said.
"Obviously, with this accident it has focused the mind a bit more but until we get the full results of what actually happened from the crash investigation, it's difficult for us to say what we can do to resolve that type of incident."