The most dangerous road in New Zealand
12 April
Welcome to the most dangerous stretch of road in Auckland (and almost certainly New Zealand): Stancombe/Murphys Road in Flatbush.
Here it is on Google Earth - note that the picture was taken in 2009.
Also, note the following:
Pink area is now all houses at about the same density as the area next to it, while the yellow shading is now all high-density apartments. The tiny piece of yellow at the top of the picture - yes, that is a traffic island - has a 33-apartment block on it which is just about to open. About half of the apartments in the larger yellow shading at the bottom are occupied right now.
As you can see, Murphys and Stancombe are the same road; it just changes its name at the intersection with Jeffs Road, right on the corner.
When Stancombe/Murphys was opened, it was a relatively quiet stretch of road, but that was over ten years ago, and the population in the area since then has increased by around 10,000 people, from the maybe 1000 that lived there in 2002.
The population which uses that road will increase by around a further 5,000 people in the next year.
As seen on the Google Earth picture, the road is straight, with just the one bend. It is quite wide, and accommodates a bicycle lane as well as parking both sides, and a median strip. It should be a very safe road, but due to some points which the designers didn't envisage, is fast-becoming the most dangerous place to drive in the entire city.
The problems all relate to population density - too many cars, too many parked cars, too many driveways, housing density too high, and lastly, multiple-family dwellings. The last problem is specific to the area, which is approximately 60% Asian. This is a highly-desirable, decile 10 area, with excellent new schools and a very safe community where people stroll the streets at night. The reason why Asian people make a difference is because unlike Europeans, they are frequently living in multi-familied homes, meaning the population density is quite a lot higher than the number of dwellings suggest.
This additional human presence makes itself felt in not just volume of traffic, but also the number of cars parked on the road, reducing visibility. It seems that the average number of cars per dwelling in the area is three, and since garages in multi-family homes are usually used as an extra room, those cars are parked outside. The driveway normally fits a couple, but there is no space for more, so the extras end up on the road, parked.
In the past three years, we have seen two fatal motorcycle crashes,. the most recent was only last night, at the location marked by the top black arrow. The other arrow is the site of the previous fatality.
Now, two fatal crashes on the same 400m of road of suburban road within a five-year time frame is extremely rare. To show you just how rare it is, check out the NZTA's worst intersection statistics here. Note that if this 400m of road were an intersection, it would already have only two intersections in front of it on the fatality list, and those statistics cover a ten-year period against five, with traffic still only at 65-70% of peak volume to come.
Even viewed against open road black spots, Stancombe/Murphy' stands out. Check this list. The worst black spots in the country only had four deaths over the same time frame, and those are all open road areas, with 100kmh speed limits. Stancombe/Murphys is 60.
There are around 200 extra dwellings in the yellow-shaded areas on the map above which will be filled in the next 3-6 months, putting more pressure on a road already becoming a death trap.
The problems are exacerbated by the section of road being notorious for people doing U-turns. People arrive from the west and park. To go forwards will mean up to 1km travel just to turn around safely, so people tend to drop a U-turn where they were parked. Living right on the start of the bend, we have seen numerous smaller crashes, and I'm sure we'll see a lot more.
What can be done?
First off, the speed limit needs to be reduced to 50 kmh immediately, with speed-camera enforcement. U-turns must banned and the area policed to reinforce the ban.
The intersection with Jeffs Road is problem as well, but only insofar as red-light running. If anything, the lights serve to reduce average speed on the road. The area is also high on school children, with two schools within 800m of the latest crash and another three within the next 1500m.
Given that I advised the Auckland City Council twice on a dangerous footpath on Jeffs Road (twice) and it hasn't been fixed, I don't imagine a lot of priority will be given to the road until two or three more die and the numbers start to demand an answer.
Copyright © Alan Charman