Police are stepping up patrols on the new stretch of the Tauranga Eastern Link after a man was caught driving at 200km/h.
The speedster was clocked at double the speed limit by a speed camera on a stretch of State Highway 2, between Te Maunga and Papamoa, just weeks after it was opened.
Police warn they will be keeping a close eye on the newly opened TEL road. Photo: File.
Sergeant Nigel Ramsden says any crash at that speed would have been 'catastrophic”.
'Driving at 200km/h in an 18-year-old car is stupid,” says Nigel. 'It won't have all the safety features modern vehicles do.”
The Te Puke man was driving a 1997 Peugeot 407 at 11pm last Friday.
He will appear in Tauranga District Court facing a charge of dangerous driving.
'We pull our hair out sometimes with the bad decisions people make on our highways,” adds Nigel.
'The newly-opened road is a safe stretch of highway but bad drivers undid the work done to make it safer.
'Police will now focus attention on the highway and anyone driving dangerously on it. We will be on that road. We will be targeting anyone who is using it as a speed playground.”
The current speed limit on this section of the expressway is 100km/h and anyone travelling above this speed is risking their lives, and the lives of every other person using the road, says NZ Transport Agency road safety director Ernst Zollner.
'This type of extreme behaviour is highly unusual and is not only criminal, in the event of a crash it would not be survivable,” explains Ernst.
'Nationally, on highways around the country, we are seeing a reduction in high speed incidents and this case is very disappointing.”
Ernst says The Transport Agency is working hard towards our goal of reducing deaths and serious injuries on New Zealand's roads.
'Our work to create a truly safe transport system needs safe roads, safe vehicles, safe road use and safe speeds,” he adds.
'In this case, we have provided a safe road but it is up to people to do their part and drive at safe speeds to ensure everyone's safety. '
Nigel asks anyone who sees bad driving to report it to *555.
He says people who think they can speed because there is no police car is in sight will get busted for dangerous driving one way or another.
11 comments
Fair enough but
Posted on 12-06-2015 10:31 | By Towball
when you have a 15 km stretch of road that is STRAIGHT and NO bends you are always going to get somebody wanting to do the obvious . Roading engineers have travelled the same road numerous times at the then 70 km limit before opening and mentioned it felt the same as a school zone . There was some mention of increasing the limit slightly above the 100km limit purely because the road can accommodate such a speed safely . Maybe there could even be a controlled situation where upon approved vehicles could have the opportunity to travel at a higher speed under Police supervision ? . Win Win for all is known as Quote " Working Together For A Better Community ". Addresses a wide range of issues may even get a little known thing called RESPECT ! from some persons .
There already is..
Posted on 12-06-2015 12:20 | By MrGPz
a controlled situation where approved vehicles can have the opportunity to travel at a higher speed. It's called a police callout!!
Not a
Posted on 12-06-2015 13:09 | By Road Ranger
The place for this sort of driving is about 200 kms north of here at Meremere under controlled conditions. This idiot not only put himself at risk but also other road users. Hope they lock him up and fine him heavily with loss of licence of about 10 years!!
why
Posted on 12-06-2015 19:40 | By joe p
bring the police into disrespect on this one MrGPz?, I suppose you support some idiot traveling at this speed?, Lay off the police they are trying to keep other road users safe so we can get home to our family at night. I hope they catch this dick-head & take his license away for at least a year & confiscate his car to the crusher !!!
Time to Rein in the Horsepower
Posted on 12-06-2015 21:15 | By jpen
Since the new lanes have opened there has been a noticeable increase in speed and associated bad driving techniques on display. While the lanes have opened up, there is still work being undertaken by the contractors in close proximity to the motorway. We need to protect and respect these contractors by driving to the conditions. Until our local drivers can improve their behaviors; stop tailgating; all drivers keep to the left lane unless passing; and drive within the speed limit we are all at risk. Time for speed cameras focusing on the outside lane; more patrols to impose strict speed limits; hold speeds to 80-90 kph as a safe speed limit on other roads into /out of Tauranga and only allow the 100 k on the toll sections of the new motorway.
mr GPzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzidiot
Posted on 13-06-2015 09:05 | By monty1212
I expect your driving and knowledge of speed in respect of road conditions is as useless as your comment!
easily seen
Posted on 13-06-2015 09:06 | By astex
Poliuce vehicles are too easy to spot and speed cameras only slow the speedsters in one place. What is needed is distance radar as used overseas. One from the stadium to domain road and another from one end of the toll road to the other. You cannot speed anywhere then without getting a ticket.
Oh, and also
Posted on 13-06-2015 10:29 | By astex
I hope that police will also enforce this from the road code as We are already seeing slow traffic hogging the right lane. Where there are two or more lanes on your side of the centre line:
Peugeot
Posted on 15-06-2015 01:13 | By YOGI BEAR
I think the radar must have been faulty, a Peugeot just cant go that fast they are a piece a junk. Maybe the patrol car was going the other way 100km + 100km = all legal and not a problem.
@Yogi Bear
Posted on 15-06-2015 12:07 | By morepork
Having lived in Germany for some years, where travelling on the autobahn often proceeds at around 200 KPH, I have to admit, I've never seen a Peugeot travelling that fast... You may be right :-) Although there are stretches of autobahn where the limit is "recommended" to 120 KPH there seems to be a consensus that 200 KPH is "fast enough". NOBODY sits in the overtaking lane because no matter how fast you may go, there will always be someone who wants to go faster...people with dream cars take them there to try them out and I have been overtaken and left standing (by a Maserati) while I was travelling at 230 KPH... Accidents happen rarely because the general driving behaviour is good, but when they do, they are, indeed, catastrophic. They are also cleaned up very quickly; you don't generally see wrecked vehicles by the side of the autobah
What a silly thing to say?
Posted on 17-06-2015 03:42 | By GreertonBoy
I do agree it was a risky and dumb thing for the driver to have done, he needs a kick up the butt for sure... and I wish the police all the best stopping these idiots.... but an 18 year old car? More dangerous at 200kmh than a modern car? Sorry, but a lot of old cars, well over 18 years old would be as safe as a modern car (at the appropriate race track) 18 year old cars are not vintage cars just yet, the 'modern' car is from about 1980. Sure the new ones have lots of 'technology' but that can go wrong/fail/not work. I would rather be in a properly sorted 1960's E type Jag (or a 97 Peugeot) at that speed (at the right racetrack) than in a newer car with bald tyres or a loose wheel. That was a silly thing to say...
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