A spate of road deaths in Northland has prompted the New Zealand Transport Agency into action, with a review of speed limits and other safety issues in the region.
Northland's road toll is now at 14 after seven deaths in just 23 days, with the stretch of highway south of Whangārei particularly notorious.
"That's one of the worst roads for fatal crashes," acting road policing manager Senior Sergeant Steve Dickson said. "The road itself isn’t that bad — it's the mistakes that people make on it.
"The reason they end up with the fatality is the speeds people are travelling, so if you've got two cars travelling towards each other at 100 kilometres per hour, the impact is tremendous."
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency is now reviewing 11 highways from Northland to Auckland.
“We’re doing speed reviews up and down the country because it's important we engage in the Northland community about what they think about our roads and how we can make improvements,” Steve Mutton from Waka Kotahi said.
The National Road Carriers Association is instead calling for a review of the entire state highway network countrywide, saying the Government should be spending money on bringing roads up to scratch, not just reducing speeds.
The NZTA is building a new four-lane highway from Ruakākā to Whangārei with a median barrier, but it’s too late for Ray Topia.
He was driving when a sleeping driver hit his vehicle, killing his friend Kerry in the passenger seat.
Kerry’s partner Jules and their two children were in the back, on holiday from the UK.
"Jules ended up in hospital, I ended up in hospital and poor Kerry didn't make it and the two kids, they didn't get hurt but they were just traumatised," Topia said.
He says New Zealand’s roads need to be made safer.
"It's got to have something to do with the roads. Sure, a lot of it could be to do with the drivers, but our roads are not safe — they aren't safe to drive on."
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