Auckland Transport smart signage trial on Dominion Rd labelled 'bizarre' by planner
Tuesday, 29 March 2022
An Auckland Transport trial of new smart signage along Dominion Rd is being criticised as “bizarre” by an urban planner.
The signs, being installed at 11 side road intersections, will light up when detecting turning vehicles, motorcycles and bikes, and give warnings to drivers approaching the intersections.
They are an initiative to bring down the number of deaths and serious injuries suffered by motorcyclists and cyclists.
Phase one of the trial, which is part of Auckland Transport’s Vision Zero Strategy, went live earlier in March.
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The five intersections included were Bellwood Ave, Ewington Ave, Prospect Terrace, Burnley Terrace, and Paice Ave.
Phase two included six intersections between Farro Fresh supermarket and Queens Rd and was planned to start later in the year.
No on-street car parking would be removed.
Matthew Prasad, the director of urban development consultancy Holistic Urban Environments, said the trial was one of the “dumbest things” he’d seen.
“[Auckland Transport] started with not taking away parks, then decided what was the improvement they should do, rather than looking at the danger that’s trying to be prevented from happening,” Prasad said.
It appeared Auckland Transport was more interested in protecting drivers' interests and treating the symptom, rather than addressing the cause of the problem which was their behaviours, he said.
“It will have a very minimal effect. Not to say that it won't have any safety improvements, I just think it will be so minimal for the cost.”
A simpler solution was to stop people from turning right off Dominion Rd, he said.
An Auckland Transport spokeswoman said the trial has been in development for a number of years and was being undertaken in conjunction with ACC to look at smarter ways to address motorcycle deaths and serious injuries.
“In an ideal world we would create a network that prevents all conflicts, but unfortunately, it’s not as straightforward as banning all right turns across bus lanes,” the spokeswoman said.
“If you prohibit right turns at certain intersections on Dominion Rd, then people have to turn right somewhere else.”
It could increase other high-risk behaviours like U-turn manoeuvres and ignoring right turn bans, she said.
Auckland mayor Phil Goff said he supported the innovation.
“Deaths and serious injuries on our roads cause immense trauma to those involved and impose significant social and economic costs on our communities,” he said.
“This trial aims to make our roads safer for all users and encourage drivers to take extra precautions around intersections to keep people on bikes and motorbikes safe.”
Prasad said it was “bizarre” the project was being called a trial despite the signs appearing “quite permanent”.
“Once this is in, it's in. I see no way of changing that other than ripping it out completely,” he said.
Auckland Transport said the project cost about $1.7m from its vulnerable road user programme.
If the trial reduced deaths and serious injuries and encouraged safer driving, Auckland Transport would investigate if this was a solution that could be rolled out across the city, the spokeswoman said.
The removal of parking wasn’t needed because Dominion Rd already had a clearway/bus lane during peak hours, the spokeswoman said.