Man's death fourth on highway

The death of Tauranga man Peter Curnow is the fourth death on State Highway 2, near Apata, this year after the 78-year-old died on Thursday.

Peter was killed when a white van travelling from Katikati to Tauranga on Thursday afternoon crossed the centreline and crashed with the Nissan car he was driving on State Highway 2, near Apata.

Read more about the crash here.


Tauranga man Peter Curnow, 78, was killed in a crash on SH2, near Apata, on Thursday.

Peter's death is the fourth fatality on this stretch of road this year.

Western Bay of Plenty road policing manager Senior Sergeant Ian Campion urges drivers to take extreme care when travelling on the highways.

NZ Transport Agency Bay of Plenty acting highway manager Andrew Scott says they were sad to hear the news of Peter's passing.

'Any loss of life on New Zealand roads is a tragedy and our thoughts go out to the family and friends of those involved.”

Andrew says no-one should be killed or seriously injured on New Zealand roads.

'We are currently investigating a number of safety improvements along State Highway 2 (SH2) between Tauranga and Waihi, as part of a new Safe System project.

'The safe system approach looks across the entire road system to improve safety by creating safer roads and roadsides, safer speeds, safer vehicles and safer road use.

'It also recognises that people make mistakes and are vulnerable in a crash, and aims to reduce the price paid for a mistake so crashes don't result in death or serious injuries.”

Andrew says the Safe System project will focus on designing and constructing improvements to the road and roadside which will help to reduce the severity and frequency of crashes on SH2.

'As part of the project we are looking at installing median barriers which will help to prevent head on crashes, guard rails to help prevent cars running off the road, roundabouts which will help to make intersections more forgiving if someone makes a mistake, and addressing speed limits so they suit the road environment.

'We are also looking at realigning sections of road to improve sight distance.”

The safe system project would build on recent work carried out to upgrade that section of SH2, including the installation of guardrails, improved visibility and intersections upgrades.

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7 comments

Funds for highways

Posted on 26-07-2014 16:32 | By OAP

Why not spend the budget on Highway 2,where it is desperately needed, and forget about more motorways for Auckland holiday makers!!!


BoP roads

Posted on 26-07-2014 18:32 | By socantor01

This road has been neglected long enough. Planning is required to bring the whole stretch from Bombay to Tauranga up to the same standard as the Waikato Expressway. Our roads are far too narrow and winding for the volume of traffic now using it. The present road was designed in the 1960s and is well past it's use-by date.


It's not the roads fault!

Posted on 26-07-2014 20:14 | By Uncle G

Yes I too would like to see this road be improved as it is a very important highway for the local economy. However I travel this road twice everyday as with a lot of other commuters at the correct speed limit without any problem. It seems that crashes along this stretch of road are made by human error and that is something that is almost impossible to reduce. The road is fine, it's not perfect or built to the latest requirements (sight distances etc) but there is nothing wrong with it. There is no reason why a car travelling at the correct speed limit should crash! Spending big budgets reconstructing it to be "safer" will not stop someone texting on their phone and crossing the center line or into a ditch.


It does concern me...

Posted on 26-07-2014 23:20 | By groutby

That the incident is looking to blaming the sad accident on "people making mistakes"...if all concentrated on the job in hand (driving) then accidents would be minimised. We should not accept that people will commonly "make mistakes", particularly on our roads, as once again this will be "normalised" and become accepted as everyday practise. The television ad (very clever as it is) currently screening is attempting to make the blame on the person driving what appears to be 3-5kms over the "speed" limit..if he were doing 100km plus tolerance) as he was presumably legally allowed to do, the result would have been virtually identical except he would have hit him 3-5 kms slower over that short distance.I understand the message but please do not make "making mistakes" an acceptable practice in everyday life, particularly on our roads.


Stop blaming the roads!

Posted on 27-07-2014 00:03 | By GreertonBoy

Roads are only as dangerous as the drivers on them. If a road is a bit narrow.... slow down. Pay attention, concentrate on driving. Yes ther is always roads that need a bit(lot) of attention, there always will be.... so how about driving "to the conditions'? The road didn't jump up and grab the vehicle? Someone was either driving too fast (for the conditions) not paying attention, distracted or careless. A lot of roads weren't even sealed not that long ago, stop whinging about the roads killing people, and everyone drive to the condition of the road you are on, it is pretty simple. The roads deemed 'dangerous' will likely be attended to, but we have to be a little patient... if that is possible these days! Drive to the conditions, not to your expectations! Condolences to Peters family and loved ones though, a terrible shame indeed...


Please

Posted on 27-07-2014 00:32 | By Capt_Kaveman

no more fences or guard rails and crap left side rumble strips, its not the road but the quality of the drivers, this comes down to the useless man in a camera van while some people should not be behind the wheel, i know who these type are i see them almost everyday, Even though some bits need fixing its not the roads fault


NZ Highways

Posted on 27-07-2014 09:51 | By oldtimer

The only way to have a decline in motor accidents is to change the atitude of drivers.We as drivers are our own woarse enemy, we put ourselfs first and stuff the rest of the other drivers on the road. No matter how straight the road is People are still going to have accidents on them because it all boils down selfiness on the highways.


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