Surface Tension

Taranaki Daily News
"Road surface linked to crash
23 November 2005

By GLENN MCLEAN

The section of road north of Urenui where a truck crashed on Monday, spilling a load of urea, has been reduced to a 50km/h speed zone after police investigated the accident.
The accident occurred about 5km north of Urenui, blocking one lane of the state highway for 90 minutes.
The truck driver was taken to Taranaki Base Hospital with minor injuries.
Highway Patrol Sergeant Stephen Richardson said Transit NZ and crash inspectors had found the road's surface was not up to a safe standard and had reduced the speed limit accordingly.
"We want all motorists using that area of road to take note of the new speed limit to prevent anyone else crashing," he said.
A number of other drivers had also brought the problem to the attention of police following this week's accident.
Mr Richardson hoped the area of road would be fixed within a fortnight.
He would not say if the state of the road would have an influence on whether the driver of the urea truck would be charged"


This corner is an interesting one.
In winter you have to be careful of ice.
It is at the end of a long straight and turns and descends at the same time.
It can get slippery.
Personally having seen where the truck hit the bank before the corner, I doubt that the road had anything to do with it.

The clean up task at an accident like this can be monumental.
A sucker truck will pick up the load so it does not get into the nearby river.

Fuel contaminated soil will be scraped up and taken away.
The area will be swept with a broom tractor.
While we are there we will get the area ready to be resealed, so the speed limit can then be lifted.