Five people have died as a result of crashes on SH1 near Moeraki in the past two years. A 39-year-old Chinese national, identified only as Miss Li, was the most recent fatality.
She was killed in a three-car crash on November 22 at the Moeraki Boulders turn-off.
Since then, concerns have been raised by the Moeraki community and the Waitaki District Council in regard to the condition and layout of SH1, particularly the turn-off to the boulders.
In December, the council made a formal request to the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) demanding urgent action, in light of the number of fatalities.
Since then, the NZTA has engaged the Safe Roads Alliance to undertake an independent review and provide solutions.
On January 18, council staff and the NZTA took part in what was described as a "non-scientific observation" of traffic flow in the area by council road safety co-ordinator Elton Crane.
It found that between 1.15pm and 2.30pm, 429 vehicles passed the turn-off, while 190 either entered or left the complex.
In a report to the council’s assets committee, Mr Crane said overall driver behaviour was of a good standard and driver hesitation was the only concern.
He said that could be "traced back to signage".
Work began before Christmas on improvements such as repainting and making bigger markings on the road, and painting "keep left" arrows either side of the intersection. The brown tourist sign for the boulders was moved closer to the intersection, from 500m out to 300m out, and the give-way sign was made bigger.
Further investigation and planning for a rural intersection advanced warning sign was planned for January.
Mr Kircher said it was imperative as much was done as possible to make the stretch of road safer, given the levels of traffic that used it.
"We absolutely support the need to take some action really soon, because it does underline the amount of traffic that’s coming out of there ... The more they do and the sooner they do it the better."
The Safe Roads Alliance is putting together a safety plan to be presented to the NZTA in the second week of February. It will then be discussed with the council and police.
The aim is for the plan’s recommendations to be implemented this year.
The Oamaru to Dunedin Safe Roads Project is to investigate long-term safety initiatives, such as road widening.
- Daniel Birchfield
