Innovative safety signs coming to Otago intersection

Installation of innovative electronic speed signs will begin next week at the intersection of State Highway 6 (the Luggate-Cromwell Rd) and State Highway 8A.

The signs, known as an Intersection Speed Zone, detects when someone is turning into or out of a side road and temporarily reduces the legal speed limit on the state highway (from 100 km/h to 70km/h). They also do this when someone is crossing the state highway from a side road.

The NZ Transport Agency’s Acting Director of Safety and Environment Lisa Rossiter says that Intersection Speed Zones are a simple, relatively quick improvement which has already proven to be effective both here and overseas.

“These signs are used at locations that have a high risk of serious crashes involving people turning out of the intersections, crossing the highway or turning right into a side road. By slowing oncoming traffic down, Intersection Speed Zones will help prevent these crashes and reduce the risk of someone being killed or seriously injured if a crash does happen,” says Ms Rossiter.

This work is part of the government’s $22.5 million Boost Safety Programme which includes a range of low-cost safety improvements to make 30 regional state highways safer. Other measures already in place include rumble strips on roads around the country, as well as safety barriers and improved signage.”

Public consultation on the ten intersections was held from 5 to 30 March 2018, and the decision to install them was announced by the Associate Transport Minister in June.

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