Share your ideas to improve safety on State Highway 1 between Oamaru and Dunedin

People can find out more about ideas to improve safety on State Highway 1 between Oamaru and Dunedin during a series of community drop-in events in April.
NZ Transport Agency System Manager Graeme Hall says a team will be at sites in Waitati, Waikouaiti, Hampden, and Oamaru to share information on possible safety improvements and get feedback and ideas from the community.

(Check earlier community feedback here.)

Feedback can also be given online or by mail until April 15.
“This is an important stretch of highway. It’s the main link between Christchurch and Dunedin and it provides connections to the North Otago, Central Otago and Waitaki regions,” Mr Hall says.

“Local communities along the route are growing and there are a number of popular tourist attractions in the area, such as the Moeraki Boulders. It’s a busy road and we need to improve it, to reduce the number of people being killed or seriously injured in crashes.

“The local people who use this road know it better than anyone else. We’re keen to hear their views on how we could make it safer.”

Mr Hall says the team got great feedback from locals at recent A&P Shows in Palmerston and Oamaru, with people keen to see changes such as new signage and safety barriers installed, along with more directional arrows to help people keep left.

“Personal insights and first-hand knowledge from locals will help us develop the most appropriate safety solutions for this stretch of road. We encourage others to come along to a drop-in event near them and have their say.”

In the 10 years from 2007 to the end of 2016, 30 people were killed and 112 were seriously injured on this stretch of road.

Most serious crashes involved people losing control of their vehicle, running off the road and crashing into roadside objects such as a tree, fence or ditch, or hitting another vehicle head-on. There have also been a significant number of crashes at intersections on the route.

Mr Hall says possible improvements include putting in safety barriers to stop drivers running off the road into steep gullies, ditches, trees and posts, widening the road shoulder to give drivers more room to recover if they lose control, installing rumble strips to alert drivers if they stray across the centreline, and putting in barriers or wide centrelines to help prevent head-on crashes.

Improving safety at intersections and the speed along the road will also be looked at.

“We want to make sure that when drivers make mistakes they don’t result in someone dying or being seriously injured,” Mr Hall says.

• We asked people at the East Otago A&P Show what we could do to make the road safer between Oamaru and Dunedin safer. Check out what they had to sayhere: https://youtu.be/16nVKKRMg2E
Find out more and give feedback online: www.nzta.govt.nz/o2d/have-your-sayor by mail:

Safe Roads
PO Box 1318
Hamilton 3204

And/or come and meet the team:

Sunday, 8 April
Blueskin on Show
Bland Park, Waitati
10am to 4pm

Monday, 9 April
East Otago Events Centre
203 Main Road
Waikouaiti
12 to 2pm

Tuesday, 10 April
Hampden Hall
25/27 London St
Hampden
10am to 12pm

Tuesday, 10 April
Oamaru Library
62 Thames Street, Oamaru
2 to 4pm

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