Stay Alive on Five: A policeman’s campaign that changed a death-trap highway

Steven Knox by one of the Stay Alive on 5 signs on the busy Napier-Taupō Road. Photo / NZ Police

A personal crusade to prevent fatal and serious crashes on one of this country’s more dangerous highways has earned national honours for a Hawke’s Bay road policing officer.

Sergeant Steven Knox has been awarded the National Award for Road Safety from the National Road Trauma Centre. It was presented at a ceremony in Christchurch earlier this month.

Knox joined the police 10 years ago, motivated to improve road safety after losing a close friend in a crash.

In 2020, he initiated a campaign on the 127-kilometre State Highway 5 between Napier and Taupō, on which eight people lost their lives in 2020 and 40 others suffered serious injury.

Knox worked with Waka Kotahi/NZ Transport Agency, Road Safe Hawke’s Bay, Taupō District Council and several other agencies to launch the Stay Alive on 5 campaign. Its goal was simple: to prevent fatal and serious crashes on the highway.

Road safety billboards were erected, as well as electronic signs urging motorists to slow down and alerting them to tight corners. This was alongside increased police presence and visibility, with marked and unmarked patrol vehicles working in tandem, and the use of speed camera vans.

The campaign captured the attention of motorsport legend Greg Murphy, who publicly backed it.

Four years on, the results speak for themselves.

There were 623 days with no deaths. In the past four years, there have been only two deaths, which is fewer than in the 2015-19 period.

During the 623 days, there were 83 crashes, 81 of which were minor and two were serious. The social cost to New Zealand was $3,598,200. This is a significant decrease compared to the previous 623 days, when there were 183 accidents, of which 19 were serious and there were 13 deaths – with a social cost of $84,380,400.

Steven Knox joined the police 10 years ago, motivated to improve road safety after losing a close friend in a crash.

Knox said he was honoured to receive the award in recognition of some great work to keep people safe on the roads.

“With the rapid increase of people dying on State Highway 5, it became clear something had to be done. This project got together many different government agencies, and the community, to come up with a common plan.

“It is a great example of when police, other agencies and the community work in unison, we can achieve something quite extraordinary that I’m very proud of.”

Knox worked closely with a local Facebook group, which started in response to concerns on State Highway 5. He said the group was previously critical of police efforts on the road but was now a supporter.

While Cyclone Gabrielle and subsequent roadworks had slowed the traffic in recent times, he said there was still a lot of police focus on SH5.

- Ten One Magazine