SH51 is flat and relatively straight, but it's not without its hazards. Photo / NZME
SH51 is flat and relatively straight, but it's not without its hazards. Photo / NZME
OPINION
If there's one thing drivers in Hawke's Bay hate being told to do, it's to drive safely.
Rip the handbrake, floor it through an orange light, cut that corner, ignore that decorative little 'give way' sign.
This region, more than any in New Zealand that I have lived in, has a massive problem with accepting authority actually has its best interests behind the wheel at heart.
There's no starker example of it than the predictable reaction every time it is announced that lower speed limits are on their way.
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The latest from Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency is that State Highway 51 from Napier to Hastings will no longer have any stretches of 100km/h open road.
A small stretch of Waipatu will drop to 70km/h. But the big change is that from Marine Parade to Clive - an 100km/h rarity in the region - will drop to 80km/h.
Everything about this announcement is unashamedly the right decision by Waka Kotahi.
Hawke's Bay Today has reported on several serious crashes near Awatoto in recent years. Photo / NZME
Don't read the online comments, though, in response to the story.
Here's a selection on Hawke's Bay Today's story:
"Leave it at 100km/h - a comfortable and safe speed. This is a nanny state."
"So stupid! Make a slow 80kmh lane or use the road that goes on Awatoto side so those of us who can drive 100km, can! It's literally a straight bloody road."
"How did my parents & grandparents survive in cars without seatbelts ... some people need to learn how to drive."
"Another idiotic decision from Waka Kotahi. Why are they so hell bent on making it hard to drive around?"
"It's not the person doing 100km/h that causes accidents its the person doing 70 that causes frustration."
I hate to break it to our commenters, but getting to your destination alive is more important than getting to it fast.
The road from Clive to Napier has challenges that make it far from just a "straight road".
The bridges are tighter than modern highway recommendations, there are tricky and increasingly busy intersections from Ravensdown onwards, and the lining of Norfolk Pine trees combined with sea views can make for an interesting driving dynamic.
Every time I see the small tribute on the tree that Hawke's Bay man Floyd Tiepa crashed into a few years back, my foot lifts slightly off the accelerator.
It feels right to travel 80km/h on this stretch, which is why many already do.
Yes, the road is in an average condition, but it's not awful. And frankly, in a climate emergency, it's time we stopped thinking it was a good idea to turn every road into a piece of paradise.
If a road can be made safer with an easy 20km/h drop on a small stretch, then let's just do it.
At the other end of the spectrum, and the highway, Anna Lorck and Sandra Hazlehurst have come out swinging at how little the speed limit has dropped in Waipatu.
But again, I believe Waka Kotahi has got it right. Calling for 50 or 60km/h from Hastings to Te Ara Kahikatea is odd.
Unless there is a plan to extend Hastings township further out on to prime growing land, this is, and will remain, semi-rural, with semi-rural speed limits.
The attention will now turn to State Highway 5, and what Waka Kotahi decides to do. Its SH51 plan, as a first taster to the main meal, gets a firm pass mark.
