Hopefully Sam's accident won't be in vain - and no more will have to succumb to that stupid fucken corner........fingers crossed that no one else will lose their lives on this corner.
Plea to upgrade killer corner
03 May 2005By TANYA KATTERNS
Pressure is back on Government road funder Transfund to agree to an urgent upgrade of a notorious bend that has killed four motorcyclists in three years.
In the latest crash on the Masterton to Martinborough road at Gladstone, 20-year-old Samuel Langham, of Wellington, died after his motorcycle and a car collided on the crest of a rising bend on Sunday.
Eight weeks ago, on the same curve, Bernie Esler, of Masterton, crashed his motorcycle. He died several days later in hospital.
Sunday's crash also happened just metres from where Masterton motorcyclists Tony Bak and Joseph Tyacke were killed in 2002, after being hit head-on by a car being driven by an American tourist, who later pleaded guilty to dangerous driving charges.
The stretch of road has long been a concern of Carterton District Council, which has made several appeals to Transfund to cover the cost of the road being straightened.
The cost of the work is estimated at around $1 million.
In the 2002 double fatality, Masterton coroner Jock Kershaw accepted a police investigation report that bad road design was a major factor in the crash. Officer in charge of the road-policing branch at the time, Sergeant Mike McRandle said from the crest of the road, it was not clear where the road went. The signs at each approach were inadequate, and ultimately major redevelopment of the bend, bridge and its approaches was needed.
Mr McRandle later worked closely with Carterton District Council through a list of recommendations from police and the coroner.
Council chief executive Kieran Shaw said that, in the past three years, the council had undertaken a number of improvements at the bend, but it remained a major risk.
A series of new signage and road markings alerted motorists to the bend, but the only real safety solution would be to straighten the corner, he said.
"We have been agitating for some time now for Government-based funding to realign this awful bit of road, but we have never reached the funding criteria from the road funding authority."
"We will continue to push and plead.
"Maybe one day, when something else goes wrong, we will be listened to," Mr Shaw said.
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SENSEI PERFORMANCE TUNING 
Originally Posted by SPman
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