Police are urging tourists and photographers to put safety first after multiple reports of people narrowly avoiding being hit while stopping – some lying down on the 100km/h road – for photos of Mount Taranaki.
Senior Sergeant Matt Prendergast said police had received numerous reports of dangerous behaviour on Kent Rd, a 100km/h rural road near Mount Taranaki which had become a popular photo destination.
The area had been marked with several "no stopping" signs, with motorists having limited visibility on some parts of the road due to corners and hills.
"Concerningly, people are ignoring the signs and have been seen lying on the road and stopping traffic to take photos of the mountain," Prendergast said.
"We’ve had more than one report of people nearly being hit, and multiple near misses being reported.
“People are not only endangering themselves, but all road users."
Prendergast said officers had been patrolling the area and would continue moving people on if they stopped on the road.
“We can’t always be there to enforce the law, so we are appealing to people to use their common sense and obey the signs," he said.
"It's not worth risking your life to update your social media account."
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