A new roundabout at Paengaroa is causing driver confusion, resulting in four crashes at the site in the last two weeks.
A 63-year-old driver, travelling from Whakatane to Auckland, caused the fourth incident when he drove around the roundabout in the wrong direction and crashed into an oncoming car yesterday.
The new Paengaroa roundabout opened to traffic in May.
Acting Western Bay of Plenty road policing manager Sergeant Mike Owen says four crashes in a fortnight is a worrying statistic.
He says the roundabout's layout is similar to any other, and motorists need to take extra care while getting used to the change.
Traffic was diverted onto the new roundabout, replacing the old State Highway 2-SH33 T-intersection, in May this year.
The roundabout will be used by motorists travelling to Whakatane and the Eastern Bay of Plenty, Rotorua and the Central Bay of Plenty, Te Puke and eventually Tauranga via the tolled section of the TEL when it opens in 2015.
Mike says what might be tripping drivers up is the slightly new direction and layout, which means motorists travelling from Te Puke to Paengaroa must turn right, as opposed to straight ahead, at the roundabout.
'The arrows painted on the road are the same at every roundabout; I don't know the problem really,” he says.
'The roundabout rules apply but they [motorists] just need to concentrate a bit more on where they actually want to head, and go around the roundabout and exit where they need to go.
'Because you are approaching these roads from different angles now, or where your intended destination is presented to you in a different angle, people need to get used to that.”
Mike says the Whakatane driver causing yesterday's crash is likely to be charged with careless driving.
He was taken to Tauranga Hospital for observation and discharged late yesterday afternoon. Read more about the crash here.
29 comments
Road Design ?
Posted on 25-08-2014 12:35 | By The Caveman
A roundabout is a roundabout, its either BAD design, or the directional signage is BAD - probably both with four crashes in two weeks.
Just
Posted on 25-08-2014 12:48 | By Capt_Kaveman
Look at the photo i can see the problem by they way they designed it
Roundabout.
Posted on 25-08-2014 13:28 | By Lois
I studied that photo about 3 weeks ago and wondered where the hell I am supposed to go (I live in Matua) I decided I would get my daughter to take me over and see what it is all about as it looks pretty confusing to me. I guess if the signs are good then there should be no problems.....right??
Not so.
Posted on 25-08-2014 13:33 | By sojourner
It might be 'just another roundabout' but there is nothing similar about it. For people who have bee driving these roads for years it is a completely new and VERY different roading system and it is all heck CONFUSING and dangerous. The signage for this new structure is inadequate to say the least, and so are the lack of warnings for approaching drivers. Sargeant Mike Owen needs to take into account that this is not your average roundabout for anyone, except maybe for himself. I do not think anyone should be charged with careless driving. The poor man is probably freaked out enough to take the long way next time.
capt kaveman
Posted on 25-08-2014 13:35 | By whatsinaname
totally agree
New Approach
Posted on 25-08-2014 14:13 | By ADNZ
Any new road layout should be approached with caution. It's sad that there have been four crashes here and on using the roundabout the first time i slowed right down so that i could read the signs, it is a roundabout so those basic road user rules apply. Maybe more can be done to alert drivers on their approach? I don't know. Slow down, think, and focus
What's so hard???
Posted on 25-08-2014 14:35 | By s83cruiser
It's a roundabout. You drive round them in a clockwise direction. HOW HARD IS THAT???? If you miss your exit because you don't know the roundabout or are unsure of your exit keep going round it will come up again. Easy as!!!. If the driver in question drove ANTI clockwise and had a crash well I ask you. Unless they have opened the 4th exit to the new roading there is only 3 to contend with How hard can it be?? Shake my head and worry that I am sharing the road with people that can't handle roundabouts really really worrying. Think of them this way... they are a cross road with a blob of concrete in the middle. You can't drive over it so you drive ROUND it hence the name ROUNDABOUT. The white arrows on the road are a big help as well easy peasy.
Signage is inadequate
Posted on 25-08-2014 14:35 | By tish
and especially the lane reduction notification on the Te Puke side heading north. Any signage there is blocked by large vehicles on a curve and the second lane is very short and just stopped without warning to traffic hidden on the inside lane. I drove it for the first time last week and found it unnecessarily complex without good signage. if you are familiar with it, it's probably a doddle. For a driver new to the layout it's awful.
Charge the desginers
Posted on 25-08-2014 15:18 | By jed
If anything, the designers of this roundabout should be charged with endangering public safety!
roundabout
Posted on 25-08-2014 15:23 | By Glen Clova
I drive through the roundabout weekly and find no problem.
roundabout
Posted on 25-08-2014 15:39 | By roseh
This roundabout is bad I went wrong way about 3 weeks ago.Found signage was not clear at all.Very confusing.
One Eyed Driver
Posted on 25-08-2014 16:19 | By oldtimer
A lot of the problems at any roundabout is people travel far to fast going in and out of the roundabouts. People dont read signs or look at the directional arrows, I have only one eye and I dont have a problem in the roundabout because i approach them with great care, and I treat all other road users as drunk. while they drive.It boils down to ATTITUDE of the road user.
Is CONFUSING
Posted on 25-08-2014 17:01 | By Colleen Spiro
Was with an experienced driver, going to Rotorua, for the first time on this roundabout, took the Whakatane turnoff and had to turn around by the golf course. If you use it everyday, all good, but the signage must be confusing
New roundabouts
Posted on 25-08-2014 18:42 | By maddog
there should be signage either side of the roundabout saying "New Road Lay out Ahead" I went through there yesterday and again today nothing no signage to say that its poor workmanship and need addressing ASAP
Distractions
Posted on 25-08-2014 19:08 | By pgrovesnz
Personally I think there are way too many distractions and also bad design. I feel like someone is going to make a mistake and hit me every time I go through this round about.
roundabout
Posted on 25-08-2014 19:43 | By hobgoblin
drivers need to pay attention, especially on a new road
Change the layout!
Posted on 25-08-2014 20:34 | By saskia
We have travelled on this roundabout a few times now and have found it to be a very 'unusual' layout - you have to make a tight s-bend to get onto and through the roundabout when coming from Te Puke direction.( Just look at the ariel photo.) What is 'warning' peole going to do? You can't warn every motorist in New Zealand to watch out for this roundabout! It is obviously a poor design or we wouldn't be having all these accidents. There are skid marks all over the road and even on the roundabout itself where many others have had near misses. How about someone just admits it may need to be re-designed before there is a more serious crash.
really
Posted on 25-08-2014 21:33 | By welshblack
I drive on this road every day and think its great 100% better than what was there before. If you are driving you should know how to use a round about? If it that confusing a bit of self learning (google is great) on the right lanes to use at round abouts would keep us all safer on the roads
Signage
Posted on 25-08-2014 22:09 | By Blessed
I travel thru it often so im fine and not confused, but i saw a near miss when a driver next to me was in the Whakatane lane, and cut across in front of the driver behind me to go to Rotorua, the driver behind me was going to Whakatane, is there a sign saying 'Rotorua right lane only' when driving from Te Puke?? People do need to slow down tho
TOTALL DUD RRRABOUT
Posted on 25-08-2014 22:18 | By The Caveman
Having read all the comments so far it seems to me that my original comment is 100% on the money - it's not your standard roundabout AND the signage is - well a total waste of time. Usual NZTA story, spend millions on a bit of road, and forget the signage - remember drivers are doing 90/100km - but oh no we will put a couple of SMALL signs 100 meters before a MAJOR change in direction. Time to get real the BIG signs need to be at least 1 Km before the intersection/roundabout, so that drivers known that they need to be in a specific lane at the roundabout/intersection.
Too many excuses?
Posted on 26-08-2014 07:36 | By groutby
What on earth was the motivation to go around this roundabout the wrong way?...is this a habit?..perhaps there is room for improvement in the signage,but it's not as though we (motorists) haven't had enough time to study the new layout if necessary...my suspicion is that if this person was driving to Auckland with skills like that, then all parties involved were lucky to come out of this alive. The Transport Agency is forcing us to slow down (to ridiculous speeds in some cases)because "other people make mistakes"...so now making mistakes is acceptable?.These people will still hit you, but slower! (which I guess is a godsend in itself) Howz about a novel idea of increasinfg driving standards and making sure we are all capable of making decisions quickly when on our roads?..the slower we drive the slower we think and react!...
NZTA
Posted on 26-08-2014 10:16 | By Capt_Kaveman
have no idea on how to make slip lanes, these are lanes that the traffic do not need to enter an intersection , eg here Rotorua-Tepuke should have a straight through lane and same Tepuke-Whakatane and any one else then has to use the roundabout and have merging lanes, but here everyone has to enter the roundabout to me thats pretty dumb
__
Posted on 26-08-2014 11:29 | By maccachic
I drive thru it sometimes and haven't had a problem, maybe people need to pay a bit more attention and indicate too while they are at it.
Dumb
Posted on 26-08-2014 12:37 | By kiza
There is excuse for anyone to around the round about the wrond way regardless of bad signage or layout. I agree that the signage is poor and needs addressing ASAP, but still no excuseto go the wrong way! There are so many round abouts in New Zealand you would think people would be able to drive around them the RIGHT way.
pay attention
Posted on 26-08-2014 12:51 | By Luigi
This is a std round-about, there were NEW ROAD LAYOUT signs when it was a new road layout. if you don't know how to use one in NZ perhaps you should not be driving here.
OMG
Posted on 26-08-2014 19:50 | By BennyBenson
The comments on here are really disturbing..it appears there is a real need for most to go and book into driver ed before you kill someone. It's a roundabout like any other = go clockwise like every other one! There are big green signs the size of your vehicle on approach showing a roundabout diagram and where the exits go to. And before you enter the roundabout another triangle roundabout give way sign, with arrows that go clockwise. And in case you missed all that it even has a big yellow sign right where you enter it, with leader arrows pointing to the left = wow. Should have gone to Spec-savers? Good grief!
Agree Capt caveman
Posted on 27-08-2014 16:34 | By Blessed
Slip Lanes wld make it a hek of alot easier. What IS the speed limit coming up to that roundabout 50 or 80? cause they seem to change it a bit, if coming from Te Puke BOTH lanes go to Whakatane, but of course only 'right lane' goes to Rotorua, its going to be even worse when the new highway opens cause the traffic will be even faster then it is now, we'll just w8 and see huh? People forget that not every1 knows the road, So Slow down and increase ur following distance. Dont knw how he went the wrong way, but people have definitely been Cut off at That round-about.
News Flash...
Posted on 30-08-2014 14:56 | By GreertonBoy
A novel new idea has surfaced at last! How about everyone slows down a little and actually look where they are going, especially when approaching new or changed 'road features' (intersections, roundabouts etc) and, what about making it a rule to stop texting when approaching the same..... Wake up people!!
Poorly designed
Posted on 05-09-2014 10:14 | By Ducky01
It is indeed poorly designed, won't be long before we see a truck roll on there due to the slope of the roundabout, but nevertheless it is still a roundabout and I don't see what is so hard about it? It boils down to common sense as to what turn off you take as to where you are going. Why would you end up going anti-clockwise around this roundabout? You don't go anticlockwise around any other roundabout? After reading these comments, I'm a bit nervous about the kinds of drivers I'm sharing the road with.
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