Slower speed limits possible for notorious Queenstown road

Monday, 24 December 2018

Otago Lakes Central road policing manager Glenn Wilkinson explains police actions to keep drivers safe this summer.

Slower speed limits will be considered for the notorious stretch of highway from Queenstown through to Five Rivers, but passing lanes are on the back burner.

There have been three deaths in as many months on the section of State Highway 6 and 209 crashes in six years.

Tourist buses, rental cars, Queenstown commuters, Southland contractors and locals jostle for position on the road where the number of road users doubles to about 3500 in summer months.

Two men were killed when their vehicle hit a bus on SH6, near Kingston, on November 1. They were passing a truck on yellow lines at the time.

Regular users have urged the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) and ministers of transport and tourism to make safety changes.

**READ MORE:

A car passes a truck and trailer in the 'dips' on SH6, just south of Kingston.

* Six years: 209 crashes, five lives, 86 injuries

* 'Thirsty' builder busted drinking bourbon on way to work in Otago

Harpreet Singh, 25, was killed when his car hit a bus on the Devil's Staircase, just south of Queenstown, on October 14.

* Rental car passing a truck on double yellow lines at time of fatal Kingston crash

* Man killed in Queenstown crash a newcomer to the south**

Constable Matt Horn checks driving on the Devil's Staircase, near Kingston, during a recent police sting.

Tour bus driver Kate Fogarty says she sees people passing on yellow lines, driving too fast and too slow, on a daily basis on the road from Queenstown to Milford Sound.

She wrote to Transport Minister Phil Twyford and Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis calling for passing lanes. She received an acknowledgement of her email but no further communication.

Kingston-based Wilson Contractors manager Athol Elliot backs her call. His drivers were on the road every day carrying gravel from Southland quarries to Queenstown and saw shocking driving daily 'and not just by tourists'.

He is pushing for changes on the windy Devil's Staircase section.

Over 2018 the NZTA installed rumble strips, improved signage and barriers at high-risk spots along the road.

NZTA senior safety engineer Roy Johnston said the agency was developing a national speed management plan focusing on the top 10 per cent risk areas.

The Otago/Southland area would be considered in 2019.

The road, which has a 100kmh speed limit, did not meet the threshold of 4000 vehicles per day for passing lanes.

'Passing lanes or slow vehicle bays may be considered during development of the next National Land Transport Plan,' Johnston said.

Some resealing work would start during summer including one site close to the Kawarau Falls Bridge, near Queenstown. Six sites would be levelled between the bridge and Kingston, he said.

For Fogarty, any change could be the difference between a life or death situation.

She was the first on the scene of a recent crash and found herself opening the door thinking 'what am I going to find?'

It was a man and his 2-year-old daughter. Both were uninjured.

'One day there will be a dead body,' she said.