Each year for the last few years I make an Official Information Request to Waka Kotahi:
My basic query is:
Regarding the stretch of SH1 between the intersection with Mill Road in Ōtaki and the intersection with Hokio Beach Road in Levin, for the calendar year [year], I would like to know:
- How many vehicle accidents were there which closed or led to delays on SH1?
- How many people died as a result of vehicle accidents?
Sometimes I’ve had to clarify a little and in future I may express it a bit differently, but what I really want to know is how often those of us who live at or visit Waikawa Beach have been delayed by crashes on the road between Ōtaki and Levin.
There is also, of course, the horrendous loss of life that concerns all of us.
Each year I receive a reply after a few weeks. Below is the table I’ve put together. 2020 of course was unusual with the country in lockdown or with travel restricted. We are in fact still in an era when tourism is curtailed. So the stats are sobering.
| Road Crash Stats by calendar year | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| events | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
| crashes | 37 | 26 | 43 | 64 |
| road closures | 5 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| delays | 26 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| deaths | 8 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| OIA Ref | OIA–9294 | OIA–7561 | OIA–6257 | OIA–6257 |
Here are the responses so you can read them yourself.
