Paekakariki Hill road speed limit

[svs]

On the radio (2XX) this morning.

Following a motorcycle accident last sunday (just north of Pautanui, rider was airlifted to Wellington hospital) the Hill road was closed for about 3 hours. As a result the Porirua council are discussing imposing 50km and 80km speed limits on the road.

They didn't say where or how this is actually going to help things....

Hope they don't spoil the only decent bit of road that I live near

[White trash]

I read it in the paper today as well!

What the fuck is wrong with people? Couldn't possibly be all the fucken gravel and dirt left from trucks working on the road further up! No way!

Motorcyclist. Accident. Airlifted, "Ah, speed was the contributing factor here! How clever of us, let's reduce the speed limit and protect these fools from themselves. Make a buck in the process."

[Deano]

I read it in the paper today as well!

What the fuck is wrong with people? Couldn't possibly be all the fucken gravel and dirt left from trucks working on the road further up! No way!

Motorcyclist. Accident. Airlifted, "Ah, speed was the contributing factor here! How clever of us, let's reduce the speed limit and protect these fools from themselves. Make a buck in the process."

Reducing the speed limit will do nothing to stop "those people" who wish to travel fast on that road. Are they going to Police it more regularly - I have seen a cop with laser at the end of the long tarsealed straight on the Pauatahanui side, but only once....ever.

It may receive some more patrols now with the media highlighting it, especially if residents pick up on it and complain as well. I was coming back from the coast on Sat night and there were a few boy racers hooning up and down - must have been pretty loud. Its a wonder the residents don't get pissed off.

Personally I reckon the road should be closed off once a month for motorbike time trials...

[Wenier]

its like their speed limit proposal for tawa jus gotta hope it dont happen cus that would suck. theres heaps of crashes that happen anyway so theres no point in trying to slow people down cus it jus wont happen!

[Motu]

I read it in the paper today as well!

What the fuck is wrong with people? Couldn't possibly be all the fucken gravel and dirt left from trucks working on the road further up! No way!

Uh....HELLO???? you ride at speed on these roads without a plan,or a Kenny Roberts packet on the wall if you come across less than perfect road conditions...you better book the chopper early.I have NO time for people who blame road conditions or some other trumped up reason for being caught unaware,it's something you learn in the first fucking week!

[Hitcher]

If they're going to "police" the Paekak hill road, they'll need some of those new-fangled hidden cameras -- I'm not sure where you'd be able to park a patrol car on most of this road! As for the speed restrictions, as long as they only apply them to the bits where you can only go 50 or 80kmh that will suit me just fine!

Agree with you 100% WT about gravel. I've had brown undies a couple of times catching gravel on the hill road. This is worst on the Paekak side but there are a couple of corners on the Pauatanui side where gravel can be a concern as well.

The most dangerous creatures on this road too (while I am fully astride this hobby horse) are boy racers who don't know how to drive, and pricks in four-wheel-drives who don't know how to keep left!

*Dismounts hobby horse, returns it to stable*

[mangell6]

Uh....HELLO???? you ride at speed on these roads without a plan,or a Kenny Roberts packet on the wall if you come across less than perfect road conditions...you better book the chopper early.I have NO time for people who blame road conditions or some other trumped up reason for being caught unaware,it's something you learn in the first fucking week!

Motu - It was SPEED that caused the accident not the ability of the rider/driver to recognise road conditions, etc. Ask anyone at the LTSA they will tell you.

80km would be to fast for a large number of people on that road, imagine taking some of those corners at that speed, especially at the top where it opens out and you have a lovely view of Kapiti Island.

Mike

[merv]

Speed limit reductions, creeping yellow lines and all that stuff. Who the hell are the control freaks that think we need protecting by controlling what we do?

So many roads that I remember as a good ride way back have had their 100 zones limited and all because the odd dickhead decided to crash on them.

Yep I don't reckon the control freaks will be happy until we are all safely cocooned in public transport. Must be the greenies that are winning here, but mind you what they are probably on best they are being driven by someone else.

[sedge]

I've seen cops hiding in the bushes at Battle Hill park ( the end of the straight just before the hill), lucky I was stuck in traffic that time, I take it easy there now.

I went over the it tonight on the way home, there's some BIG freaking rocks in the road on the way up, gotta work on my target fixation issues. Heh heh.

Saw someone else at the top out for a blat on their Suzuki, howdy if you're here.

I'd hate the limit to change, that would leave nowhere for me to go, P.North road is toast, Takas are shot... Actually there is one good road still open on the way home... You'll have to guess.

Sedge.

[jimbo600]

I've seen cops hiding in the bushes at Battle Hill park ( the end of the straight just before the hill), lucky I was stuck in traffic that time, I take it easy there now.

I went over the it tonight on the way home, there's some BIG freaking rocks in the road on the way up, gotta work on my target fixation issues. Heh heh.

Saw someone else at the top out for a blat on their Suzuki, howdy if you're here.

I'd hate the limit to change, that would leave nowhere for me to go, P.North road is toast, Takas are shot... Actually there is one good road still open on the way home... You'll have to guess.

Sedge.

Hey Sedge it was me on the hill earlier. Pretty cool sunset aye? I just put on a Metzeler Z6 tyre and was seeing what it felt like, all a bit gingerly as it's brand new and I hate crashing. A few weeks back I posted a comment about some twat in a car on my side of the road going over paekak' hill. Well it appears that the accident the other day was caused by another prat on the wrong side of the road ploughing into a bike coming the other way. You can see the lines put down by the crash investigation snakes. Lowering the speed will not protect against fuckwits. I think from now on I'll only feed it the jandle over paekak' hill early in the morning while I still have a hardon and the road is quiet.

[Marknz]

I think from now on I'll only feed it the jandle over paekak' hill early in the morning while I still have a hardon and the road is quiet.

So you'll still be pretty close to the tank then huh?

[jimbo600]

So you'll still be pretty close to the tank then huh?

Yup, beacause I would have indulged in a bit of self gratification before hoping on the gixxer. Lowers blood pressure you know.

[shafty]

Agree again Hitcher Et Al; how are they goin to 1.) Spin a car around to chase you, or 2.) get a Laser fix on ya ? --at least you'll have a chance the fang off to get ya $$ worth if they do!!

I love NZ, but really guys, don't ya think it's SO POLITICALLY CORRECT it is starting to suck? Yet push bike riders can go without helemts all over, car drivers regularly flaunt seat belt laws (pisses me off cos I pay their ACC) yet if a Biker rode past w/out a lid they'd be stuffed.

Lets make it an election issue!!

[LB]

Most cars and car drivers would be hard pressed to be able to do more than about 80kph over most of the hill road, so lowering the speed limit is ludicrous for most of the Joe Car Drivers. Some car drivers seem to only be able to manage 40-50kph (if you're shit scared of narrow winding roads, WTF would you drive on them by choice???)

We travel over on occasional Sunday afternoons in the car coming back from up north. We often get stuck behind 4x4's and cars who regularly cross the centreline on righthanders. Thank god there's not been a motorcyclist or car coming the other way at the time.

( one day a year or so ago we were in the car coming down the Paraparas, and came up behind a huge 4x4 that we were stuck behind for well over 20kms. He crossed the centreline on every single right-hander. Also on some of the double yellow line straights he was straddling the dble yellow lines. We took heaps of photos which clearly showed the rego, and sent them off to the Police with a letter. We were sent a reply that basically said "fuck off". If that 4x4 had have met a car or bike coming the other way, the result would have been dreadful.)

Hamish reckons the rocks are on the Paekak Hill road now because when they resealed the Pakak side, they did away with the gutter on the hill side of the road, so now when the rocks fall, instead of having a chance of being caught in the gutter, they roll onto the road. I think he's right, because the rocks/stones seem to have been far worse since the resealing.

I always ride this road with plenty of reserve. There's often horses/riders around at the weekends too.

I like the road, and if we're ever on SH1 coming back from up north on our bikes, that's always the way we come home. (in the car also)

[James Deuce]

I wouldn't have a problem with the speed limit being dropped, as it may reduce the number of "Oh my god he's on my side of the road" moments I've had on the Paekak hill road.