Wellington heading north???

[Blakamin]

Three people are dead and another four critically injured after a head on smash on State Highway One north of Wellington.

Both lanes are blocked between Pukerua Bay and Paekakariki.

Although diversions are in place, traffic is banked up for kilometres in both directions.

Police say motorists should expect delays of up to two hours.

[Hooks]

Three people are dead and another four critically injured after a head on smash on State Highway One north of Wellington.

Both lanes are blocked between Pukerua Bay and Paekakariki.

Although diversions are in place, traffic is banked up for kilometres in both directions.

Police say motorists should expect delays of up to two hours.


I always hate hearing these announcements .. I hope none of my old friends from Pram are in it. That stretch of road from Raumati South through to the southern side of Pukerua Bay has had some horrendous smashes on it. I have witnessed 3 fatals there and when I had my restaurant on SH1 we were constantly helping out those who had fucked up and smashed something or someone !! ... No bikers though in 5 years ........

[Blakamin]

Yeah....its not good...

A trauma doctor who has lost count of the number of dead and maimed he has attended on Wellington's killer coastal highway has been called out again.

Three people have died and a fourth is critically injured, after two cars collided head-on at speed just north of Pukerua Bay at around 4.30pm.

A third car then crashed into the wreckage of the first crash.


Chris Lane says emergency workers arrived to find two people dead - and two critically injured .

One of those died moments later.

Dr Lane says ambulance and volunteer fire-fighters worked courageously to free the critically injured patient.

At seven o'clock, traffic was still banked up for several kilometres either side of the crash site.

Police say motorists should expect significant delays



RIP... :bye:



off topic...hooks, it wasnt 1906 was it?

[MD]

Another sad day for a lot of people. And still Tranzit will say its not a priority as they spend millions shortening another city's rush hour from an average 1.42 minutes to 1.22 minutes a journey.
Has to be the scariest bit of road out of Wgtn. Absolutely zero margin for error. I attended a friend's funeral a few months ago who died at the same spot, head on -someone crossed the centreline with nowhere for others to swerve too.

[Blakamin]

it sux that SH1 is a friggin 2-lane back road to any other country in the world.... :weep:

[mangell6]

It is sad to see these things but seeing the pictures taken from the helicopter, straight piece of road with twin rumble strips for a centre line. That piece of road has been relatively safe for the last year, hope it is no-one that I know.

[StoneChucker]

Decided to go visit the parents in Lower Hutt. Left wellington and, based on the backed up traffic at the intersection of SH1 / SH2, and the relatively good weather, I decided to go up the gorge, round paramata roundabout and over H58 (Haywards Hill). Paramata and the gorge were not too bad, but as I turned onto H58 it was backed up all the way, moving about 50m every 5 minutes, no exaggeration! In the end I got fed up, and "overtook" the whole way, only darting back in when I met any oncoming cars, which was thankfully not very often.

My bike definitely prefers the open road, wasn't the most comfortable ride!
Oh, yeah the 2 hour delay is irritatingly very accurate!
Still, at least I got where I was going, such a pity about the 3 who didn't :(
Ride safe y'all

[Blakamin]

It is sad to see these things but seeing the pictures taken from the helicopter, straight piece of road with twin rumble strips for a centre line. That piece of road has been relatively safe for the last year, hope it is no-one that I know.

The problem is that the speed limit signs saying 100 are so small that people that know the road want to do 100 and others think that its still 70-80 coming out of pukerua... same north of paraparaumu to waikanae... people still do 80...road rage gets happening and next thing you know....accident!

Mark the speed limit properly... they have big signs saying
50... why are the ones saying 100 so small

[riffer]

As cynical though it sounds, every death helps make Transmission Gully a more realistic proposition.

With Transit rating each death at about 2 million dollars, we only need about another 350 people to die for Transit to deem it cost effective.

That road has always been a killer road. Every year it seems we have to hear about a horrific crash between Pukerua Bay and Paekakariki. Gives me the shits having to drive that road...

I guess eventually they'll make it a 50km/hr road. Obviously the people who crashed were speeding....

Transit NZ's policies make me want to :puke:

[stevedee]

The only answer is a concrete barrier, do this and take the heat for less space on the road, you have to keep the traffic apart, headons are a thing of the past or are in other countries, spend money and keep the 2 lanes apart. Speed is not the problem here.

[Paul in NZ]

Look...

I'm a hell of a nice guy.... I HATE it when people die needlessly. I love my kids and assume others do the same....

I'm stuffed if I know how to feel about this.....

I drive that road every day. I've seen more friggin' morons than road hazards and yet I cannot believe that SHW1 goes through stupid towns that no one want to visit unless you live there... I just can't sort all this out. Add mad bastard truck drivers hooning it and....

It's a right bastard all right....

It's about time we set a bunch of bull dozers from Bluff to North cape and tell em to 4 lane the bastard no matter what!

[riffer]

Look, guys, that road's a piece of shit and we all know it.

You can't put a concrete barrier down the middle of it as its already so narrow that if you cut out 5 feet in the middle for a barrier the trucks will never get through.

You can't widen the road on the left hand side because it's just a drop off to the ocean.

You can't widen the road on the right hand side because the bloody railway tracks are there.

Not to mention an unstable hill above the railway anyway.

The cost to widen that road would be horrendous...

I guess we just have to wait for another 350 people to die....

NEEDLESSLY

I'm a bit pissed off about the whole thing. :mad:

[Blakamin]

I'm way more than pissed off....the whole road from paremata to waikanae has been a death trap for years.... used to live at 2 main rd waikanae...1st house over the bridge, in '88-89. so many deaths....
someone has to make this so-called "state-highway" (what friggin state??) "No.1"?? (hate to see any others then) a real road ....on par with the rest of the world.... might as well ride around bali for all the 'structure' the system has here...


sorry, i've spent toooo long in australia

[Hooks]

Yeah well.... you guys have said it all .....
I lost count of the times we had an accident in the weekend outside our restaurant ..... there could be a line of stationary traffic but some idiot would still miss seeing it and ram someone or spin out trying to avoid the stopped cars !!! ... In one sunday afternoon we had a guy go past upside down in the middle "flush median".... buggered if I know how.... and when the traffic banked up while that was being sorted there were 9 .... yes 9 other small accidents and the firecrews couldn't get thru !! .... One morning we even had a truck & trailer take out 2 power poles and 150m of lighting and fences ... he had to cross 4 lanes of traffic while going south to do it !!! bloody lucky they didn't hit anyone getting there .... So many fuckwits and so little space .... :angry2:

[James Deuce]

I'm way more than pissed off....the whole road from paremata to waikanae has been a death trap for years.... used to live at 2 main rd waikanae...1st house over the bridge, in '88-89. so many deaths....
someone has to make this so-called "state-highway" (what friggin state??) "No.1"?? (hate to see any others then) a real road ....on par with the rest of the world.... might as well ride around bali for all the 'structure' the system has here...


sorry, i've spent toooo long in australia


Roads don't kill. Neither do roading engineers, road crews, nor even politicians. Compared to the Scandinavian countries all of whom have economies that dwarf ours and similar or slightly bigger populations, we have a huge roading infrastrucutre. Australia's economy dwarfs ours also, and bear in mind that there is the State Government System, and the Federal government system to provide an overlap in regulatory and planning requirements for roading systems.

As callous as it sounds you need to be stupid, in a state of altered reality (at least one party involved anyway), or at a stretch, unlucky to have an accident along that road.

The only way to fix it is a big spend up, a large construction project taking many years, and rooting house prices in Whitby. The only way to get it done is for it to be a political objective at election time, and no one will win a second term these days in the aftermath of a "Think Big" project. The money to pay for it will have to come from somewhere and irrespective of anyone's feelings about it, 1.3 Million voters in the greater Auckland region mean we are boxing waaaay above our weight to ever get it done.

As for what Paul said, no Highway should EVER pass through a town or city if it is to serve it's proper purpose. However NZs economy is so fragile that many towns that rely on seasonal through traffic for there existence would vanish, and in the process of doing so have concomitant social costs in the billions of dollars over a period of time. That would probably mean tax increases to meet both the initial outlay and follow on costs. Again it's heartless to say, but when the government hits you in the back pocket, other people's deaths seem less "involving" than they did at the time.

The fact remains that it is unpleasant that people die before their time. The fact also remains that not everyone who shares the road with us takes their responsibility to value every road user's life around them as much as they value their own.

[Blakamin]

Roads don't kill. Neither do roading engineers, road crews, nor even politicians.

As callous as it sounds you need to be stupid, in a state of altered reality (at least one party involved anyway), or at a stretch, unlucky to have an accident along that road.



I agree..
in the late 80's, my dads best friend (and us) was(were) coming back from taupo after a long weekend with his wife and daughter,(we had one of their daughters in our car), when a car crossed the road south of pukerua bay, (where there is now a barrier) and drove over the top of their car, giving the mother severe brain damage.... we were 1/2 hour behind and i knew there was something wrong when the traffic stopped (weird feeling).... knew it involved us (we had the long weekend together) things were never the same for that family, and probably a lot more families too.... if it's going to be a "state highway", make it a "highway"... not a 2 lane backroad. I know it will take dollars, but, at this stage, every time it rains the roads down here get closed... somethings gotta happen, no matter the $$$$$

[Hooks]

well said Jim .... The onus must be on the user first and foremost to ensure that the road is used as safely as possible. The only problem with that is ..... that kiwi drivers are not known to drive to conditions or at least follow instructions to minimise risks on a stretch of dangerous road but prefer to treat it as a challenge that should be exceeded at all costs ..... If the government is to be made accountable then so too must the drivers ..... as I said before .... I can't recall hearing of any bike accidents on that road in the 25 years or so I lived there .....

[Blakamin]

Just saw nightline....how can this shit keep happening???.... the road aint that narrow? was it a passing manouvre? 4 in 1 car?

[sedge]

I can't understand it, a large percentage of the accidents happen on the long straight stretch of road with double yellow lines down the middle by Fishermans table. Don't you think that if your driving was so crappy you couldn't always stay in your lane that you would take extra care here ?.

[Blakamin]

i'm sorta waiting to see how young/old the 4 in the car were...:( :mellow:

[Hooks]

I see that another has died in hospital ..... 4 !!! not good ..... and there was another car that smashed into the first 2 !!! :bash: how fast are these dumb fucks going along there ???? :2guns: Crazy !!! and scary .... I'm having second thoughts about letting about my kids out there .....mind you I have been driving/riding for 30 years nearly .... ( shit I'm old !! :Pokey: ) and still haven't been involved in a major ..... been right behind 3 that involved death though !! so I guess if you know how to drive defensively and keep your wits about you then you have a chance .... maybe .....who knows ...


more port please ....

[Lou Girardin]

In Transit NZ world, when there are enough dead and injured, the cost/benefit ratio will fall in favour of the Transmission gully project. So, Wellingtonians, it's your duty to crash for the greater good.
I didn't appreciate the TV3 cameraman sticking the camera in the face of one of the injured. We really are stooping to the depths of US style reporting aren't we?
As far as the driving goes, Transit can paint double yellows on every km of road in the country, but it won't stop the frustrated or moronic drivers from following their natural incination.

[LB]

.
.I didn't see the TV3 news coverage on Friday night, but last night (Sat night) they apologised for their "lack of judgement".
.
.

[James Deuce]

Just to bring it a bit closer to home, the deceased were the parents and two aunties of a workmate.

[merv]

The hard thing to comprehend is why so many people cannot keep their vehicle on their side of the road that so many crashes happen on that road. The road is not full of tricky slow blind corners to catch people out, and anyone should be able to drive along it at 100km/hr without any problem steering their car left of the yellow line. Transit have reacted now by putting an 80km/hr limit on that piece of road too.

As for the roads themselves going through small towns, that's because they were initially built many moons ago to link the small towns and then the towns grew up around the highways and eventually the towns and the traffic outgrew the roads.

[Hooks]

It was interesting to me, to see that yet again the ones who were at fault were older and returning from a funeral. This seems to be a bit of a trend in recent times .... what are these people doing .... they are going to an event that is highly draining, emotionally and physically .... and they drive long distances there and back ,without taking the obvious precautions of resting before returning or using alternative methods of transport that don't involve them having to drive.

jim2 I'm sorry for your workmates loss ... made even more tragic by the circumstances .....

[Firefight]

In Transit NZ world, when there are enough dead and injured, the cost/benefit ratio will fall in favour of the Transmission gully project. So, Wellingtonians, it's your duty to crash for the greater good.
I didn't appreciate the TV3 cameraman sticking the camera in the face of one of the injured. We really are stooping to the depths of US style reporting aren't we?


The same could be said for the sad reporting of the rural posty whos, husband had to be interviewed so soon after his wifes body been found.

Did he need that? Did we need it ?

F/F

[Paul in NZ]

I dunno... This is a bummer...

Transit's stupid need jerk reaction is a predictable response because it costs fuck all and they don't have to admit by not building Transmission Gully (or some other option) they actually made a mistake...

The problem with that road is is IS nearly quite good (in parts) and you can get along at a reasonable lick. That makes the accidents so much worse of course... The last bit of the Rimutakas must be a similar length and yet we don't see the same deaths. Why? I guess the Rimutakas sends out enough natural warning signs to be careful. The coastal highway seems easy by comparison.

When we allowed used imports and reduced the cost of car ownwership, we allowed a whole new class of vehicle into the country in numbers never seen before. The roads can't cope. Yes, other countries may have similar problems but it is so effortless to be wafting along at 120kph you don't expect to see traffic lights and roundabouts. Given wellie commuters habit of driving an inch off the rear bumper and all the hold ups...

Well... No it still makes no sense does it...

I tell you one thing though. Making the limit 80kph won't make any difference....

Paul N

Sorry for the loss to the families.... What a bloody waste.

pps. yes, TV news. Rotten cunts the lot of them and I refuse to watch it. They are the sort of smug pricks that would watch a kid drown in a river through the lens of a camera rather than putting the damn thing down to pull him out. I have NOTHING but contempt for the Holmes generation of reporting.

[spudchucka]

Transit have reacted now by putting an 80km/hr limit on that piece of road too.
And no doubt it will be policed without mercy.

[Blakamin]

And no doubt it will be policed without mercy.

Yep...the most useless speed camera in the country will now make a packet!

[Deano]

I can't understand the problem with that stretch of road. Do people stare out the side window checking out the view of Kapiti Island ? Sure there is nowhere to go to escape but why can't people keep to their own lane in the first place ?
Speed is not an issue - I have gone through there at 180km/h (many years ago) on a bike and in a car without a problem.
In fact, most people don't go over 85km/h through there nowadays probably because of the roads notoriety.
It confirms my belief that driver error is more to blame than speeding. A mate an I were driving in the cage through Wgtn yesterday and the number of fuckwits who cut us off, didn't indicate etc was incredible. I was observing a 'one second rule' following distance at about 90km/h (to prove a point) on the motorway and still people cut in to the gap in front - all this being observed by an HP who did nothing - Maybe the problem is too great for one cop to make a difference.....or is it ? If the message got out there that following distances would be strictly enforced then perhaps we would see more compliance.

[Firefight]

I guess only time, and the authopsy will tell, in this case, but over the years I have attended a number of head - ons MVAs were the driver crossed the center line after some sort of medical event, ie heart attack (AMI) or stroke(CVA), I guess some of the :Police: on this site will have attended simular incidents..

F/F

[svs]

Transit New Zealand is now considering erecting a median barrier, but will first cut the speed limit from 100 kilometres an hour to 80km/h.

"I believe we have an imperative here to be seen to act, we'll do that on Monday," says Chief Executive Rick Van Barneveld.

But Lane says the devastating accidents won't stop "until a barrier is up".

Kapiti Coast regional councillor Chris Turver also believes reducing the speed limit is not the answer.

fuckwits :mad: