Motorcyclists crash on loose gravel in Pukehina

NZ Herald

15-05-2025

'It hadn't been reswept — it was like riding on marbles.'
Police breath-tested the riders, who all returned negative results, and agreed that the road was the likely cause of the crash, he said.
The council confirmed resealing work had been completed on four sites on Old Coach Road recently, and was reswept after the crash.
Nearby farmer Rob MacKenzie saw the crash unfold on February 27.
'The bikes went past me, and I turned around and saw Mark just losing control. Then two more riders came off at the next corner — it was chaotic,' he said.
'I went straight over to help him. Got quite a shock when he took off his helmet and I saw silver hair. They were all older Kiwis, like me.'
Their route took them through Pukehina and on to Old Coach Road, where disaster struck.
'We ride in staggered formation, with a lead rider and a 'tail-end Charlie',' Colley said. 'I was about fifth from the front when it happened. I was the first to come off at the corner, and around 25 per cent of the group went down too.'
Colley spent four days in Tauranga Hospital. He needed surgery for a plate to be put in his knee.
'My colleague with a broken rib was in more pain than me. My shoulder hurt badly at first — I thought it was broken — but three X-rays showed nothing, and most of the pain was gone within 30 hours.'
MacKenzie said the incident could have been far worse.
'If a tractor or bin trailers had been coming the other way, it could've been deadly. All that gravel — it probably would've cost a grand to sweep properly compared to the cost of five police cars, two fire brigades, three ambulances, plus ACC costs.'
He said the gravel had been left on the road for six weeks or more.
'There's been no signage either. They put the lines back in, but the road was still left with pebbly stones.'
While MacKenzie believed signs could help, he said in his view, the responsibility lay with maintenance crews.
'Old Coach Road's full of curves. They probably should have had a temporary sign up where it hadn't been swept but, at the end of the day, they should have come back and finished the job.
'If they had, those 12 bikers would've ridden straight through.'
Council network operations and maintenance manager Desmond Barnard said resealing on two parts of the road took place on January 7, 10, and 15.
'Every reseal site has temporary traffic management in place while the work is being undertaken. This stays in place until the road has been swept and line marking has been completed.
'This stretch of road [where the accident happened] was swept on January 10 and the other two sites were swept on January 21.
'Line marking occurred on the same day as the sweeping and, once this was completed, temporary traffic management was removed.'
Another road sweep was carried out on March 6 after the council was made aware of the crash.
'We care about the safety of all road users and are always looking to improve our systems and processes,' Barnard said.
'Following any incident, we review where improvements could be made, taking into account a number of factors, including road surface, alignment, visibility and curvature.'