The Kaimai Variable Speed Sign trial is beginning to receive awards because of a reduction in accidents on the road, with the two year trial just over half way through.
Early results show there have been fewer serious injury crashes and an overall reduction in the total number of crashes.
The weather activated speed signs, which change to slow traffic in bad weather, have been in operation since September 2015 and have resulted in the NZ Transport Agency receiving commendations from police for the effect they have.
Initial results show speeds are reducing when the signs are on. There has been a migration away from serious injury crashes towards minor injury crashes and an overall small reduction in the total number of crashes.
The very early results are promising, says the Transport Agency's chief safety advisor Colin Brodie.
'This trial is aiming to get people driving at safe speeds that are appropriate to the Kaimai Range and the conditions and our initial results are indicating that is happening.
'But overall, our work to create a truly safe transport system needs safe roads, safe vehicles, safe road use and safe speeds, so there is still some way to go.”
The input of locals and other people who travel the route on a daily basis is vital to the success of the trial.
'We need to hear from people as we go so that we can make adjustments and improvements to the trial, like adding in the extra zone at the top of the Kaimai Range.
'We will continue to monitor the trial, particularly around how we determine when the signs are turned on and when they are turned off.”
The 26 high-tech signs are part of a two year trial by the NZ Transport Agency aiming to reduce the crash rate on the steep road, which links the Waikato and the Bay of Plenty.
The trial started with 22 signs but was increased to 26 to enable the signs to be activated at different speeds over three zones; west, east and summit.
This means in very localised conditions, for example when fog is only over a small summit section, the speed reduction can be put in place only for that summit zone.
The Transport Agency monitors a weather station, sensors and cameras near the speed signs and adjusts the speeds between 30km/h to 100km/h depending on the conditions.
For weather conditions it is only reduced to 60km/h in the western zone and 80km/h in the eastern zone.
The speeds are enforced by local police.
The trial has now won two awards for safety and innovation and one Certificate of Appreciation Friday. One of the awards was a Road Safety Practitioners Award awarded to Senior Road Safety Engineer Adam Francis at the 2016 Australasian Road Safety Conference 2016 in Canberra in September.
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/projects/kaimai-weather-activated-variable-speed-limit-trial/
12 comments
Pointless
Posted on 19-12-2016 18:36 | By Tauranga Local
I don't know how many times I have travelled over the Kaimai's where the weather was atrocious and yet the speed signs were not working. Today in fact, foggy and pouring with rain yet not working. And on some days where the weather is fine, it's down to 80 km/h. Perhaps some tweaking is required.
Will be interesting to see ..
Posted on 19-12-2016 19:24 | By mutley
how the new Summit zone works. It should be a considerable improvement if well managed.Police should also be targetting drivers with bad lane discipline on this road. Many slower vehicles block the uphill passing lanes. This includes trucks passing other trucks with very small closing speeds which hold back a string of cars behind them. It always seems like overtaking for the sake of the driver's ego rather than efficient transport.
needs adjustment
Posted on 19-12-2016 19:25 | By daboy
i believe it is a good thing but on numerous occasion i have traveled over when the signs are on with a dry road but cloudy or Tauranga side is clear and Waikato side has low cloud i would like to see the signs be able to be adjusted for the condition's on each side
Bad Kiwi drivers
Posted on 19-12-2016 19:57 | By Kenworthlogger
Its a pity that the Kiwi driver themself cant work out what the safe speed to drive at in bad weather is. ...
Pat on the back...
Posted on 19-12-2016 23:39 | By waiknot
Always quick to to take credit.
What a load of bull!
Posted on 20-12-2016 05:55 | By Devils-advocate
Those signs are inconsistent at best, and a right royal pain in the arse. There are still several accidents up there, one just has to look at all the missing fencing and new Armco barriers to see that. Several times I've come over the Kaimais in terrible conditions, with the signs turned off, but on the return trip, in glorious weather, reduced to 60k!As I suspected at the start of the trial, all the powers that be have their rose spectacles planted firmly on their head whilst turning a blind eye to all the shortcomings of what could be a good system, if it was managed properly.
Yes, but ...
Posted on 20-12-2016 08:28 | By JeffLaw
The idea is great, but the implementation is poor!On a recent trip to Hamilton, the speed limit was reduced to 80km/h from the bottom of the Kaimais on the Tauranga side, simply because there was about 1km of fog at the top.Most traffic, apart from a few like me, totally ignored the limit, so what is the point?
And
Posted on 20-12-2016 09:01 | By waiknot
If next week there are more accidents will they accept responsibility
Rubbish!
Posted on 20-12-2016 10:31 | By Astoreth
There is NO evidence to support the variable speed zones leading to a reduction in crashes; that may have happened anyway.As others have said, the idea is there, but the implementation is very poor. 15Km of reduced speed limits for no reason, and no reduction when there is a reason is far from uncommon. It has got to the point now where very few people obey the limits when the signs are lit, so the trial is more likely a complete failure.As for the crashes on the Waikato side, I'd suggest that most have little to do with speed. From what I see on a daily basis, it is people braking in the corners, rather than before the corners, that leads to loss of control. Often, this involves speeds well below 60Km/hr.
Variable speeds are not the answer
Posted on 20-12-2016 13:46 | By StevieB
Instead of the variable speed limits which at times appear inappropriate to the conditions, why not make a PERMANENT speed limit on the Kaimais of 70kph. This is plenty fast enough coming up or down on the Matamata side, & would surely be heaps safer. Policing would be easy and incident rates would drop. This would be a less costly system to maintain & manage.
With a comment like that..............
Posted on 20-12-2016 23:33 | By groutby
StevieB....why not just close the road to traffic completely...problem solved..somewhere, somehow we need to be able to trust that we (people) can actually get to know how to drive to the conditions as our licence conditions tell us...you just cannot keep telling people not to do "stuff" just because it makes it easy for law enforcement, we need to seriously punish the few pillocks who continue to spoil the majority of good drivers....and no, the "weather activated" speed signs are plain stupid, they will NEVER take the place of proactive control.
StevieB
Posted on 23-12-2016 00:36 | By mutley
Why not make the speed limit 4 km/h so that it will be faster to walk and there won't be any troublesome cars on the road at all. Could probably abolish the Police force - what a saving that would be ! Have you possibly thought that, with a modern transport system, speed is the whole point of having a road for sophisticated cars instead of a horse and cart. I travel this road very frequently and it is truly amazing how many hopeless old cars are out there being piloted by hopeless drivers. The road is just fine. The variable speed system might work if only it could be well managed - and that is yet to happen.
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