State Highway 1 is the Waikato region’s deadliest motorway, four years of crash data from New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) has revealed.
State Highway 1 is the Waikato region’s deadliest motorway, four years of crash data from New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) has revealed.
According to Crash Analysis System data, provided at the request of Waikato Herald, there were 1493crashes on SH1 in Waikato between January 2021 and December 2024. Of these crashes, 31 were fatal and 87 caused serious injury.
The second deadliest state highway in the region was SH3 where 575 crashes had occurred, including 18 fatal crashes and 50 that resulted in serious injury.
The data, accurate as of February 17, also showed SH25 had the third highest number of total crashes in the 2021 to 2024 period (575) but more fatal crashes happened on SH26 (10).
In the same timeframe, the total number of crashes recorded for state roads in Waikato was 5319, of which 119 were fatal.
Waikato road policing manager Inspector Jeff Penno said crash data helped inform where officers patrol.
“All road policing staff in Waikato are deployed on an evidential basis. They are deployed to risk, and to do specific enforcement activities to prevent road trauma.”
Penno said the statistics for state highways didn’t take into account the dozens of other local roads where fatal and serious injury crashes also happen.
“It is important to note that crashes can, and do, occur anywhere across our roading network, and as such our officers could be anywhere, at any time.
“We would remind motorists to always pay close attention behind the wheel, even on roads you know well. One thing you cannot control on the roads is the behaviour of other people.”
Waikato Road Policing manager Inspector Jeff Penno. Photo / Mike Scott
University of Canterbury professor of human geography and former NZTA chief science adviser Simon Kingham said if people drove at safe speeds and didn’t drive after consuming drugs or alcohol the numbers of crashes would decrease significantly.
“I think the key one is that when we drive, we are in charge of something that has the potential to be a weapon,” Kingham said.
“Hundreds of people die each year on the roads. The vast majority are due to individual errors [like] drink driving, speed, checking phones, etcetera.
“So treat it seriously. Take care. People’s lives are ruined either by injury or losing a loved one, if we make mistakes.”
When asked whether better road design or lowered speed limits could save more lives Kingham replied it was “impossible to say”.
“The safe system approach, which is what Road to Zero is based on, says you create a system that is forgiving of mistakes and that means good road design and safe speeds.
“But lower speeds are much a cheaper way to reduce deaths and serious injuries on the roads. Designing roads to allow us to drive faster is expensive.”
Road safety expert Dr Fergus Tate, currently a technical director at engineering firm WSP, has decades of experience researching causes of road deaths and spent seven years with the NZ Transport Agency where he was the lead safety adviser for roads and roadsides.
“Rather than talking about crashes we should be talking about the people and the fact that 137 people were killed and a further 627 people were seriously injured,” Tate said.
“While distressing these numbers on their own are somewhat meaningless without some measure of exposure and something to compare these with.”
Tate said the “speed versus the new road” argument is often put up as one or the other but should be seen as a “complementary system”.
“If you think of NZ roads, we have tortuous winding roads with the same limit as the expressways,” Tate said.
“Where roads are well designed and have the full gambit of safety measures, they can sustain higher speeds.
“Research has shown these new roads can reduce deaths and serious injuries by some 37%, compared to the roads they replace in place. But much of our road system has never been designed. It evolved and cannot sustain high speeds.”
Tate said “if you want the best bang for your safety dollar”, speed management addressed crash risk more effectively.
Maryana Garcia is a Hamilton-based reporter covering breaking news in Waikato. She previously wrote for the Rotorua Daily Post and Bay of Plenty Times.
