Maketu Coastguard president Shane Beech is keen to have a new traffic lights system trialled at the Maketu and Kaituna bars.

ACC Minister Nick Smith says the traffic lights will be trialled at New Zealand's most dangerous bars as part of an injury prevention initiative.


File picture.

The lights will indicate to boaties on shore if conditions at the bar are safe.

A green light will indicate safe conditions, an orange will indicate hazardous and red dangerous.

Shane says there is a lot of non-fatal boat turnovers at the Kaituna bar.

'Quite often you will get one of the bars that's working reasonably and the other one is not.”

'It's to do with weather and shifting sand bars.”

He says it would also be useful for boaties unfamiliar with the bars.

The new tool is to be trialled first at the Buller and Waimakariri River mouths in 2012 and 2013, but ACC has contracted Coastguard New Zealand to evaluate another 30 sites around New Zealand for potential use of the tool.

'Coastal bars are high risk areas in which 12 New Zealanders have drowned in the past decade.”

'It can be very difficult to assess how dangerous conditions can be, particularly from sea,” says Nick.