Speed signs to change with weather

SAFETY INNOVATION: Transport Agency road safety chief adviser Colin Brodie (left) and Transport Minister Simon Bridges examine the weather-activated speed signs on the Kaimai Range. PHOTO/GEORGE NOVAK

A New Zealand first road safety initiative harnessing weather and power technologies to combat one of the country's most dangerous roads will launch on Monday.

Twenty-two weather-activated speed signs have been installed on a deadly 12km stretch over the Kaimai Range and aim to reduce the number of crashes on the busy highway.

The 100km/h speed limit will be reduced during bad weather, based on the amount of rain and wind recorded by a specially-installed weather station.

In the past 10 years, nearly 70 per cent of reported crashes on the Kaimai Range have happened in wet or icy conditions.

The signs will link to the weather station at the top of the range and information will be sent back to the Auckland Traffic Operations Centre where the speed limit on display will be adjusted accordingly.

Transport Agency road safety chief adviser Colin Brodie said if the two-year technology trial was successful, eventually the human interaction in Auckland could be removed and it would be a fully automated system.

Because of the remote locations, half the signs are powered by solar panels and wind turbines that can be seen along the side of the highway.

It was a cost-effective and resilient way of running them because if extreme weather conditions cut power to the area, the signs would still run, he said.

Technology built into the signs also allowed the Transport Agency to monitor average vehicle speeds by tracking bluetooth technology in people's cars and recording the time it takes a car to travel between two signs. "We know people are still exceeding 100km over here," Mr Brodie said.

While the agency could not ticket people from the bluetooth technology, an increased police presence would continue in the area during bad weather and while the public adjusted to the new system.

Transport Minister Simon Bridges said the high-tech signs would ensure people drove smarter.

"What is really cool here is we're combining smart technologies to have serious results.

"People in the Bay of Plenty have known for quite some time it's a potentially fatal road."

Mr Bridges said weather was a big, if not the biggest factor in crashes in the area.

"Nearly 70 per cent of crashes occur in the wet," he said.

"I'd be really surprised if this doesn't have a significant impact on crashes."

The signs had the potential to save lives around the country in the future, he said.