Driver error and taking a risk is getting people hurt at the State Highway 60-Mapua intersection where seven accidents have been reported in the past three years.
In the data released by New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA), seven vehicle accidents occurred in the three years to the end of August this year. In those seven accidents, one person died, two were seriously injured and six had minor injuries.
Along with the data, NZTA notes that due to the nature of non-fatal crashes, it is believed that these are under-reported, with the level of underreporting decreasing with the increasing severity of the crash. It also notes that data relating to non-injury crashes may take up to seven months before it appears in the crash database.
NZTA director regional relationships for Greater Wellington and Top of the South, Emma Speight, says the agency is aware of the road characteristics of Māpua Drive and SH60, as well as vehicle speeds at this location.
She says, at this stage there is no funding allocated for a roundabout or other intersection improvements. The location will be considered during the preparation of the next 2027-2030 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP). In the meantime, NZTA will continue to look for future improvement work opportunities should funding become available. Māpua resident Sally Hargraves says there are more accidents and near misses at the intersection than the data captures where police are not involved.
“I personally believe people don’t know how to judge speed and they get impatient and try and cut through. You can be sitting there for a very long time trying to turn right in either direction, and you just have to be patient.
“It wouldn’t hurt to have a couple of signs saying to be extra aware. The other one would be to remind people of the left-turn rule. You see people turning right from the highway and they just sort of stop and wait while someone is coming in and you think, this isn’t a waiting place. They wait right in that junction for the person that has come down the hill, and they just look at each other going ‘what are you doing?’”
Resident Paul Nankivell says drivers turning right into Māpua can have a “blind spot” if a vehicle heading up the hill obscures a vehicle coming down the hill. He was a passenger in a vehicle turning right into Māpua when he saw a car “pop out” from behind a vehicle heading toward Motueka.
“You think there is a lot of visibility, but big trucks on your inside obscure cars coming down the hill.”
He says many locals now go up Seaton Valley Rd to avoid turning right at the intersection or go through Ruby Bay to meet the highway further on.
Another local who can see the intersection from their home, but does not wish to be named, says there they often see drivers turning left into Māpua from the Motueka direction who wrongly give way to vehicles turning into it from Richmond direction, which causes confusion.
They also see vehicles heading from Motueka direction toward Richmond, shifting into the left lane after they pass the intersection to let vehicles travelling faster get past. Vehicles coming from Māpua have a free left turn and use the lane to accelerate and merge with the highway traffic.
“When I come down the highway from Motueka direction, I always have my foot sitting on the brake coming up to that intersection, waiting for something turning in front of me. Because that’s what happens.”
Sally says reducing the speed coming down the hill to 80kmph might help reduce accidents.
“There’s a whole bunch of things and I think a lot of it is driver education and awareness.”
Tasman District road policing manager, Chris Brooks, says driver error and taking a risk is getting people hurt at the intersection.
“Most of it, if not all of it, is driver error. Everything there is working, but drivers are choosing to either ignore or take risks and some of it is not paying off too well.
Turning off the state highway into Māpua, you have to be careful – you have to judge the speed coming down the hill. But the rules are all there. Whether they choose to follow them is a different story.”
Chris says police have been in the area enforcing road rules and it is local drivers breaking the rules.
“It’s not rocket science. They’re just being a bit casual about it. They could drive carefully and get through there nice and safely or take risks. Risk comes with some issues though.”
Police have suggested NZTA erect a camera to encourage drivers to follow the speed limit as he says they are being caught speeding in both directions around the intersection.
He says large signs warning drivers they are entering a high-risk area could be helpful and the community could encourage that.
