The government is ignoring its own scientists, says safety campaigner

The victim of yesterday's fatal accident near Hastings, would probably be alive today if a median barrier had been fitted to that road, says the car review website dogandlemon.com."

The fatal three-vehicle crash was triggered by a Nissan Cefiro, which appeared to lose control and crossed the centre line straight into the path of an oncoming truck.

Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson, who is an outspoken road safety campaigner, says:

"Many of New Zealand's roads are like a staircase without a handrail: you make the slightest mistake and you're going to get hurt."

“The road in question was easily wide enough for median barrier installation. Yet, there was no median barrier and now there’s another dead motorist.”

Matthew-Wilson is increasingly frustrated by what he calls: “the government ignoring its own scientists.”

“The government’s own studies[1] show that median barriers are highly effective at preventing head-on collisions, so why does the government not prioritise their installation?”

A wire rope barrier was installed along a 10km stretch south of Paekakariki in 2005. In the 20 years before it was installed, head-on collisions claimed about 40 lives and around 120 people were seriously injured.

Since the wire rope median barrier was installed, the serious accidents stopped overnight[2].

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