A road safety trial at a rural intersection in the Ashburton District suggests a rumble strip did not make drivers significantly change their speed approaching the crossroads.

Data was collected before and after rumble strips were installed on the western side of Fairfield Road as it intersects with Singletree Road. The strips were 200 metres from the intersection.

Council Group Manager of Infrastructure and Open Spaces Neil McCann said the data was presented to the road safety co-ordinating committee recently and showed speeds were checked at 20 metres from the intersection before and after the rumble strips.

“The data showed similar speeds were recorded pre and post rumble strip, so we can’t conclusively say the rumble strip had any impact. However, we will continue to look at the best ways of alerting drivers that they are approaching a controlled intersection.”

Council is already improving its rural intersections, including adding Stop signs on both sides of the road, and installing advance warning signs. The rumble strip project was to help test its effectiveness as an additional warning.

Mr McCann said the rumble strip data had shown about 98 per cent of vehicles were travelling less than 40km/h as they slowed for the intersection, before and after the installation of the rumble strip.

“But some were travelling a lot faster, and it looks like several vehicles must have simply driven straight through without realising it was a stop sign. We have a lot of straight rural roads in our district and the danger is that drivers don’t realise they are approaching an intersection.”

He said that Council would continue to look at ways to improve road safety at rural intersections, while continuing to upgrade its signage – this includes changing Give Way signs to Stop signs, using larger signs, gating signs and installing advance warning signs to alert drivers that an intersection is ahead.

“We’ve also been in touch with other people conducting research in the same space, and look forward to seeing their findings or even being part of their research trials.”