In the past five years there have been at least 138 vehicle crashes on the Coastal Highway between Richmond and Motueka which resulted in four people losing their life. Another 20 were left with serious injuries and 77 others with minor injuries.
The figure may end up higher because figures released from The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) through the Official Information Act to the end of January this year are not complete because of the lag from the time of a crash and correct recording. NZTA says non-injury crashes in particular can take some months to be recorded and ‘it is believed’ non-fatal crashes are under-reported.
Other sobering figures show that a contributing factor in 56 of those crashes was poor observation by drivers, while for 38 crashes drivers failed to give way or stop. A further 34 crashes involved drugs or alcohol, while 21 were in incorrect lanes or position. Well down the list of factors was road conditions which was recorded in 10 vehicle crashes.
Those crashes impact on the lives of people, as Cullen Findlater knows. He did nothing wrong the night a vehicle slammed head-on into his car on the highway near Tasman View Rd and months later he still battles ongoing pain and still requires treatment.
Last July, he was heading to work in Motueka early in the morning when a car came onto his side of the road. He suddenly saw headlights in front of him and then, bang. His father Bill says the total impact of two cars travelling at 100kmh would have equalled 200kmh.
It left Cullen, now 29, with no visible injuries, but the severe trauma to his body from that impact led to four months off work, a substantial loss of income, endless waits for specialist treatment and he is still taking painkillers. Bill says Cullen has been in constant pain since the crash and has barely driven, as well as being nervous when being driven by others.
“All the time now, he is thinking it is going to happen again. People see there has been an accident and forget about it. Cullen lives with it every day.
“He’s been back working since October, but that’s a challenge for him because he’s on his feet all day. He comes home at night and says: ‘I’m really sore today’.”
Bill says there was “marvellous treatment” initially from emergency staff, but pressure on the medical system meant Cullen had to wait for nearly two months to see one specialist and that exacerbates the problems.
“If you have to rely on the public system, it is very challenging.”
Bill says many people are driving on the highway every day and do not always treat it with the respect it deserves.
“I don’t know whether it is complacency, but I see some shocking driving on that piece of road. There’s a lot of poor drivers out there and they underestimate the road and overestimate their abilities.”
NZTA say improvements have been made in recent years to improve safety such as the lower speed limit through to Maisey Rd and turning lanes at some intersections.
More improvements are proposed at the McShane Rd intersection and Lansdowne Rd intersection, while a new intersection is proposed for Richmond West, between Three Brothers Corner and McShane Rd. Those proposals are part of the Richmond Transport Business Case and subject to funding approval, while new road safety barriers are being installed now on the Ruby Bay Bypass.
