Alcohol & speed high in Ruapehu crash statistics

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 13, Issue 603, 12 September 1995, Page 7

Alcohol & speed high in Ruapehu crash statistics

At their last monthly meeting in Tau maranui Ruapehu District council lors were asked to consider a road safety report prepared by the Land Transport Safety Authority (LTSA) reviewing the period from 1990 to 1994. Data from this report on crashes, casualties and fatalities has been analysed to highlight key problems. One of the main findings is the comparison between urban and raral crashes. Traffic crashes in 1994 are estimated to have cost the Ruapehu District community a total of $36.7 million ($4.3 million for urban crashes and $33.4 million for raral crashes). Crash data for the Ruapehu District has been compared with a group of similar-sized local authorities as well as throughout New Zealand to determine the national average. Under the heading of 'General' the report features the following data: • The rate of crashes per head of population in the Ruapehu District is above the national average even allowing for the fact that the amount of traffic is increasing at a faster rate than the population. • Cyclists, motor-cyclists and pedestrians are under represented when compared with the national average. • Seat-belt and cycle-helmet wearing (surveyed in the Ruapehu District for the first time earlier this year) indicate less than average wearing rates.

• The number of vehicle crashes increased in 1994, this being mainly due to an increase in raral crashes. The report goes on to make the following comparisons between crashes in urban and raral areas of the Ruapehu District. Urban • Alcohol is involved in 38 per cent of all crashes, this being well above the national average. • Speed as a factor is twice the national average. • Crashes on bends in the road and at intersections are well above average. Rural • Crashes on bends dominate in the statistics and are proportionally higher than the average rate. This type of crash has been increasing from 1991 to 1994. • Speed has been a factor in 44 per cent of all crashes, once again exceeding the national average. • Whilst the number of crashes have been increasing there is a lower than average serious injury rate. The main crash sites in the Waimarino (both raral and urban) covered in the LTSA report are as follows: SH4 (Makatote Viaduct; SH4 (Horopito); SH49 (junction of Burns and Clyde Street, Ohakune); SH49 (4km west of SH1 at Waiouru); SH49 (intersection with Ohakune/ Raetihi road in Ohakune); Goldfinch Street,

Ohakune (25m north of Wye Street); and the intersection between Miro and Shannon Streets in Ohakune. The LTSA report states that while most crash sites are located on state highway s in raral areas, those that occur on roads which are totally located in urban areas under RDC control are at the low end of the scale as far as 'frequency of injury' crashes are concerned. The report goes on to say that remedial work has already been carried out on one of these trouble spots - the Miro Street/Shannon Street intersection. The Bulletin assumes this remedial work to the Miro Street/Shannon Street intersection refers to the 'button' roundabout installed earlier this year. Howe ver the Bulletin alsonotes that the LTSA report makes no mention of the other intersection where a 'button' roundabout was installed at the same time: the Miro Street/Ayr Street intersection in Ohakune and where crashes sometimes occur. In fact since these button roundabouts have been installed there have been two crashes at these intersections, one when the driver of a car travelling west along Ayr Street hit the roundabout and crashed into a house verandah after demolishing the fence. The other was a more recent collision between two cars at the intersection of Miro and Shannon Streets when both drivers failed to give way at the roundabout.