State Highway 2 near the Red Fox Tavern at Maramarua - "a spot notorious for serious crashes," called the "unforgiving highway" where least 40 people died in the five years to 2005. See also Children face highway to hell
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Goose Bay, Cantebury. Notorious for truck accidents -as many as 20 truck crashes happened here every year.
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Glenda Drive/ SH6 intersection near Frankton. Named as a "death trap" is now due for a $4million upgrade
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SH1 near Ohingaiti is a "notorious piece of road" and a "well known trouble spot". Work was already underway to straighten the bend, but not soon enough for the last driver to crash here when a car crossed the centre line and crashed head on into another
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Junction of Jackson's Road and Old Renwick Road, Marlborough. The intersection is dangerous because trees on its southwestern corner block views of approaching vehicles.
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Dome Valley, north of Auckland hs claimed at least 19 lives since 2001, the Warkworth to Wellsford stretch of road is ranked the 5th most dangerous in the country.
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SH2 near Te Puke has been called one of the country's most dangerous roads, notorious for being "dark and dangerous"
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Numerous accidents occured at around the Petone Esplanade / Horokiwi turnoff.
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State Highway 2 from the bottom of the Bombay Hills to Mangatarata, called a "killer road"
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Centennial Highway between Paekakariki and Pukerua Bay a "notorious accident blackspot"
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Stretches of State Highway 2 near Mangatawwhiri are also a "notorious accident blackspot"
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Cable Bay Road / SH6 Intersection in Nelson described as "a notorious accident blackspot"
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The 'Notorious Akerama Bends', Coroner Brandt Shortland - conducted an inquest into the deaths of two Korean tourists at the Akerama Bends in September 2007 - called on roading authorities to straighten the S-bend or put up clear warning signs. (no street view available)
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There are many theories explaining the shockingly high death and injury rates on New Zealand's roads. Whilst the young driving age and drink-driving plays a not inconsiderable part there are some locations where road design and layout are so unforgiving that the smallest driver error could potentially result in disaster.
According to the AA
* New Zealand's Road Safety to 2010 strategy forecasts that 42 lives a year could be saved by improvements in road engineering.
* Installing rumble strips on roads can reduce crashes by up to 27% by preventing run-off-road and head-on collisions.
* Installing a barrier along an embankment can reduce run-off-road casualty crashes by as much as 45%.
KiwiRAP (NZ Road Assessment Programme) gives safety rating figures for a number of NZ's roads, this is a table showing the ranking for roads on the basis of high collective risk (click for a larger image)
Further information may be found here: KiwiRAP risk tables
