From residents to rescuers: The road with too many crashes

Residents of Appleton Rd in the Bay of Plenty have been first responders at more road crashes than they care to remember.

By Diane McCarthy of Local Democracy Reporting

Maree Scammell knows of at least nine accidents in 2025 on the 500m bend in State Highway 2 between Paerata Ridge and Appleton roads.

She said a particularly bad crash in October, in which six people were injured, had been a catalyst for the community to start campaigning for safety improvements.

"[A neighbour] was kicking in a windscreen to get a five-year-old boy out while his auntie was trapped by her legs. This is what we deal with. Nine times is a lot in a year.

"The residents are first responders every single time. Before emergency services arrive."

The Bay of Plenty Regional Transport Committee has a presentation before it on Friday on behalf of Scammell and Appleton Rd residents seeking support.

Eastern Bay Road Safety Committee chairman Gavin Dennis will present on behalf of Scammell, who is not able to attend.

The committee is made-up of representatives from local councils, police, NZTA and other agencies.

Dennis agreed that there were a lot of accidents on that corner.

"It’s the local residents that are getting traumatised every time they have to go out and rescue them," he said.

The residents also have a meeting scheduled with NZTA in April to discuss safety measures.

"NZTA have been really open to conversation, which is great," Scammell said.

A turning lane into Paerata Ridge Rd was being considered, which she fully supported, but she felt there were other changes needed.

Seven of the nine crashes over the past year had been cars headed toward Ōpōtiki that had successfully negotiated the Paerata Ridge turnoff before crashing on the eastern, Appleton Rd, side of the curve.

There had been three incidents in two weeks involving vehicles leaving the state highway and ending up on private property.

One incident, in which a ute and trailer flipped off the highway and landed upside down on a neighbour’s property, was particularly worrying as children had just been riding scooters on the lawn shortly beforehand.

Three incidents in the past five years had needed more than 30 emergency personnel to attend and the road had been closed.

Scammell said several factors contributed to making the corner dangerous – a 100km/h speed limit, the lack of turn-off lanes into Appleton Rd, and a recurring pothole just as vehicles were coming out of the bend.

A Phoenix palm overhanging the road dropped its fronds onto the road and an open, spring-fed drain across the road from the Appleton Rd turnoff could overflow in heavy rain.

While safety barriers were in place through most of the bend, they stopped short of two of the homes near the intersection.

Caravans and campervans enter and exit the holiday park on Appleton Rd. There was also a bus stop there.

The campground is licensed for 500 people and during the off-season housed seasonal kiwifruit workers who were regularly coming and going in vans, she said.

Scammell described pulling onto the 100kmh highway with less than 100m of visibility in a large vehicle as "like Russian Roulette".

The community wants road resurfacing, turning lanes in and out of Appleton Rd and Paerata Ridge Rd, extended barriers, double yellow lines, covered drainage to divert the spring water, removal of the palm, improved signage, and a lowering of the speed limit.

"Accidents happen but we want to change the impact of those mistakes because it’s a lot nicer to give someone a hug than scrape them up.

"I’m extremely appreciative that NZTA have a difficult job at the moment because so many people are isolated in our area. I do understand that funding is limited. But it’s an important piece of SH2 and it’s been a long time coming."

Scammell said it was important to draw attention to the high number of crashes as sometimes they were not reported to police so there was no record of them.

"Some people just dust themselves off and carry on their way."

An NZTA spokesperson said its crash data for that particular piece of road did not indicate are particularly high crash rate.

However, the spokesperson said the data relied on crashes "being attended by or reported to NZ Police".

The agency would be investigating the safety and maintenance concerns raised on SH2 between Paerata Ridge and Appleton roads.

"As part of this we plan to meet with the community and discuss the concerns in more detail and identify possible short-, medium-, and long-term options to address these concerns. These options will include looking at the safety improvements as raised by the local community."

– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.