NZTA invests $8.6 million to crack down on wrong-way motorway drivers

Saturday, 1 May 2021

Video shows a black car driving the wrong way down Auckland's northern motorway. Video first published February 2020.

A system to alert people driving onto motorway offramps into the flow of traffic is edging closer to development.

Auckland Transport agreed to amend the Regional Land Transport Plan to include the $8.6 million Prevention of Wrong Way Drivers project on Thursday.

Offramp entries across Auckland’s motorway network have resulted in one death and two serious injuries in recent years.

New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi is developing a system to warn and alert drivers entering motorway offramps into the flow of traffic.

'The potential for severe crashes is extremely high when vehicles enter the motorway corridor in the wrong direction via an offramp,” Auckland Transport principal advisor Mark Fleming said.

Two people died and two were seriously injured after a car went the wrong way down Wellington Urban Motorway in January.

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“These drivers are heading directly into the path of on-coming vehicles travelling at high speed with no designated road space for them to drive into.'

The project is being led by New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi. It must be included in the Regional Land Transport Plan if Waka Kotahi is to seek funding for the project from the National Land Transport Fund.

A budget of $8.6 million has been set aside for it.

The purpose of the project is to allow Waka Kotahi to implement a system across the Auckland motorway network that detects vehicles and warns drivers when entering motorway offramps against the flow of traffic.

Waka Kotahi spokesperson Neil Walker said crashes of this type are not common, but given the high speed environment of a motorway, the outcome of such crashes can be devastating.

'Preventing drivers from entering motorway systems the wrong way is a world-wide challenge,” he said.

'Waka Kotahi wants to be at the forefront of developing solutions that fit within the Vision Zero objective to create a safe transport system as part of the government’s Road to Zero strategy which aims to reduce deaths and serious injuries on our roads by 40 percent over the next 10 years.'

Waka Kotahi will now move to a full network roll-out of the programme over the next three years, consisting of 123 sites across 93 offramps on the Auckland motorway network.

In the five years between 2014 and 2018 there have been over 100 entries per annum onto offramps across the Auckland motorway network.

A driver was taken into police custody after being spotted travelling the wrong way on Auckland's northwestern motorway in November last year.

Two people died after their car collided head-on with another vehicle driving the wrong way on Wellington Urban Motorway in January.