School bus drivers Shane Preston and Dawn Ironside say SH14 between Dargaville and Whangarei, and some council roads are hazardous to drive on. Photo / supplied
School bus drivers Shane Preston and Dawn Ironside say SH14 between Dargaville and Whangarei, and some council roads are hazardous to drive on. Photo / supplied
Dodging potholes and navigating hazardous metal roads, uneven surfaces and oncoming logging trucks -these are some of the "horrific conditions" Northland school bus drivers are tackling daily to ensure their precious cargo gets to school safely.
Two school bus drivers based in Dargaville contacted the Northern Advocate about the challengesof their bus routes following our stories highlighting the poor state of the region's state highways and roads.
They said SH14 in particular is rife with roadworks and littered with road cones, yet there never seem to be any sign of improvements.
Dargaville resident Shane Preston has been doing his school run for over two years, transporting kids to and from Tauraroa Area School in Maungakaramea via Pukehuia Rd and Omana Rd.
"They patch up the same place over and over till they can't patch it up anymore, then they erect signs saying the surface is uneven, or 'slow down, it's wet'.
"SH14 is a shocker the moment you leave Dargaville. You might as well have a sign saying 'uneven conditions for the next 60km'.
As for Pukehuia and Omana roads, which are metal, they "are never done properly".
"No-one seems to do proper maintenance.
"When you take out the culvert and reinstate it, over time it sinks, so the road surface sinks and you're left with a slump in the road.
"If you hit them with the bus, it throws the kids all over the place."
Families have also taken matters into their own hands.
A grandparent of one of the children who travel on the school bus erected this sign to highlight the dangers of Omana Rd. Photo / supplied
"One grandparent erected a sign on Omana Rd, saying hazardous conditions for the next 5km. He's sick of the road.
"Another lady on the same run took her kiddies off my bus at one stage, because she considered it too dangerous. At the time there were a lot of trucks sharing the road."
Fellow bus driver Dawn Ironside, who transports kids to Tararoa Area School and Waiotira Primary, said the run to school and back twice a day is "really hard work", especially on the return SH14 stretch.
"When you drive on it in a car it doesn't seem so bad, but in a bus the suspension is highly sprung to deal with loads of people.
"When we're driving them empty on the road it's like Animal from the Muppets on the drums, you're bouncing all over the place.
"It's horrendous, it takes so much energy and concentration...the road is so damn rugged."
Ironside - who worked for six years as an operations supervisor overseeing drivers and routes to 27 schools in Kaipara and the Hokianga before returning to driving - said "just about every day" they are slowed by roadworks.
"Sometimes there's no evidence of the work they've done.
"All they're doing is putting up warning signs and cones saying 'slippery when wet'. That's because there's no seal left."
She has also experienced "a lot of discontent" trying to get answers from councils about the maintenance of metal roads.
"They say they're too dry to grade in summer, and too wet in winter. There's very little in between.
"I would use the word 'safety' and 'danger' because we're carrying the most precious cargo, children."
Kaipara District Council said Omana Rd has been a recipient of the Unsealed Road upgrade programme and is now only experiencing 'isolated maintenance issues'. Photo / supplied
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency, the Government agency responsible for New Zealand's state highways, said SH14 was built to the "required standards".
Regional manager Jacqui Hori-Hoult said there were a number of factors that affected pavement condition, and Northland had its own set of challenges including the underlying geological make-up of the area.
"While all state highways suffer fatigue and damage over time, there are various slip areas on SH14 which are subject to these geological conditions.
"Weather events can also play a part in creating issues.
"We are working to optimise our maintenance and renewal work at a time when there is a finite amount of funding available and growing demands on the roading network."
Hori-Hoult said during winter it might seem like contractors keep returning to do patches, because "permanent repairs can only be done during the summer construction season [October to April]".
"We work closely with all of our contractors to ensure quality issues are addressed effectively, and any rework which needs to be carried out is undertaken at our contractor's cost."
A Kaipara District Council spokesperson said Omana Rd has been a recipient of the IRG funded Unsealed Road upgrade programme, and is now only experiencing "isolated maintenance issues".
"The improvement to the pavement is unmistakable in comparison to what it was previously.
"For Pukehuia Rd, from Girls High School Rd to Arapohue was in the last couple of days regraded and the remaining area is due to be worked on next week.
"We sent our contractors and area supervisor to do an inspection of these roads on Friday, and they're happy with the current state of the roads."
