John Williamson: Government 'Road to Zero' strategy - will it work?

The section of Northland highway south of Whangārei is on a NZ Transport Agency list of 10 accident hotspots. Photo / John Stone

ON THE ROAD

There's a lot of heat being generated in the road safety space. We have had a vigorous discussion about speed limit reviews, the re-evaluation and ultimate rejection of 12 key state highway projects and, last week, the release for public submission of "Road to Zero" - a proposed new road safety strategy for the next decade.

The context of all this is a Government realignment of transport spending priorities, away from the construction of "Roads of National Significance" projects towards safety improvements on a larger number of state highways and rural roads. We also have a modal shift towards public transport, rail and walking and cycling.

These are against the background of climate change, the need to keep the economy moving, a worsening road toll and a whole range of social priorities the Government needs to implement.

The focus of particular Northland interest has been on "Our Road". The Whangārei to Marsden Point stretch which was promised as becoming "four-laned" and which has been one of the 12 projects subject to re-evaluation.

These wire safety barriers were placed on the northern side of the Brynderwyn Hills in 2015. Will the Whangārei to Oakleigh stretch look like this under the Road to Zero strategy? Photo / File

We have a strong sense of protection and ownership of our roads. We want them to be functional, well maintained, safe and look good. This road is the gateway to Whangārei but it has been described as the killing fields.

The Oakleigh to Whangārei stretch had 17 deaths over a 10-year period with 84 per cent of these being head-on crashes attributed to crossing the centre line. Something needed to be done.

Around 12 months ago, some 1200 traffic separator posts were installed within a widened double yellow centre line to create a visual barrier in the centre of the road. The results over the past 12 months have been pretty encouraging as a relatively low cost but high benefit/cost solution to a centre line crossing issue.

This is not a physical barrier and will not save drivers who make a mistake but NZTA staff should be congratulated for their applied thinking to an obvious problem.

But surely, we might say, this is not a long-term fix. However, if four-laning is off the agenda for now then wire rope centre and side barriers seem to be the more likely safety solution for this piece of road.

Alan and Denise Wilson in February this year called for State Highway 1 in Oakleigh to be made a four-lane highway to cut the number of fatalities. Photo / Tania Whyte

That is certainly the flavour of the "Road to Zero" strategy released for consultation last week.

The focus is investing in roads beyond the major state highways with infrastructure safety improvements rather than new road development. The strategy recognises that two-thirds of fatal crashes are caused by ordinary driver error and that 74 per cent of these are on rural roads.

Rural roads are defined here as those outside urban areas with speed limits of 70km/h or more. They don't include motorways but do include many state highways. Many of these roads are not built for safe driving at higher speeds.

The strategy talks of investing in more median and roadside barriers, more rumble strips and intersection upgrades. There's a lot of sense in mandatorily improving vehicle and motorcycle safety, and enhancing roadside drug testing.

State Highway 1, north of the Oakleigh, where traffic separator posts were installed within a widened double yellow centre line to create a visual barrier. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Many of us will agree that prioritising road policing specialists with higher visibility is crucial. Central to the strategy though, is tackling unsafe speeds.

The speed issue will need careful management with appropriate local consultation and include engineering solutions to make speed limits more self-explaining to drivers.

So what will the Whangārei to Oakleigh stretch look like under this strategy?

We only need to look a little south to the Brynderwyns. That has been engineered up with median and roadside wire rope installed on the north side. The 80km/h speed limit has been retained along that whole road and that is a perhaps perplexing signal about what is to come.

I'm sure most of us would prefer to see this wrapped around a four-lane highway.

• John Williamson is chairman of Roadsafe Northland and Northland Road Safety Trust, a former national councillor for NZ Automobile Association and former Whangārei District Council member.