Burkes Pass – a safer place to stop on your way through the Mackenzie

Video transcript

Timestamp	Visual information	Audio information
00:00:00	Scenic shoots of Burkes Pass	Caption: This is Burkes Pass. The kind of place you want to stop and take a photo.
00:00:12	Interview with Jane Bachelor from the Burkes Pass Heritage Trust	There's the old school, the old schoolhouse, Cobb cottages - there's a huge list of heritage present here in Burkes Pass.
00:00:27	Scenic shoots of Burkes Pass	Caption: The tiny rural community sits on State Highway 8 and is often called the gateway to the McKenzie Country.
00:00:33	Interview with Jane Bachelor from the Burkes Pass Heritage Trust	It's on the route to Mt Cook and the lakes. People come here when they're going through to Wanaka. I've been very aware of the highway issues.
00:00:45	Scenic shoots of Burkes Pass	Caption: Because it's such a popular place to stop, visitors were often having to cross the highway in a high speed zone of 80km.
00:00:52	Interview with Tracey Rackley, a local resident	We live in the old Burkes Pass hotel, so we get to see what's going on with the traffic and issues for people to cross the road to go to the toilet. Quite a few near misses. It's really quite scary because the cars travel together quite closely, especially at peak seasons.
00:01:08	Footage of Jane watching cars go past	Caption: So the local community started talking to Waka Kotahi and other agencies on ways to make the area safer.
00:01:16	Interview with Jane Bachelor from the Burkes Pass Heritage Trust	We have the planted thresholds, the entrance and exit signs to the township to try and give visual clues.
00:01:25	Jessica Rattray speaking to camera	This isn't just about how vehicles travel as fast as possible along a corridor, but also how the road and the people interact together.
00:01:33	Scenic shoots of Burkes Pass	Caption: A month of speed monitoring by Waka Kotahi showed almost 25% of all traffic through the township was exceeding 80km. With tens of thousands of peoplecrossing the road each year, a decision was made to reduce the speed.
00:01:48	Interview with Tracey Rackley, a local resident	Now it's a lot better - a lot slower.People can now cross the road and not have to worry about getting run over, and we notice that more people are stopping.
00:02:01	Jessica Rattray speaking to camera	While it may be perceived as just lowering speed limits, it's ensuring we can make journeys safer on the roads and that the speed limits are appropriate for everyone using them - not only for the people travelling from A to B, but for people to be able to pull out from their driveway safely, or people pulling into intersections.
00:02:20	Interview with Jane Bachelor from the Burkes Pass Heritage Trust	We're just so relieved to have the speed reduced to 60 km/h. The reduction in speed was noticeable for most vehicles almost immediately.
00:02:35	Shoots of the Burkes Pass 60km zone sign	Caption: Safer speeds will help achieve our goal to reduce deaths and serious injuries on New Zealand's roads by 40% in the next decade.
00:02:42	Jessica Rattray speaking to camera	Even slightly slower speeds allow drivers to correct their driving, so any mistakes a driver makes can be corrected or can be reduced in terms of fatal and serious outcomes.
00:03:57	Interview with Jane Bachelor from the Burkes Pass Heritage Trust	We really appreciated them making this change for us, and for the whole of New Zealand, because most of New Zealand seems to pass through Burkes Pass at some point.
00:03:11	A motorcycle drive passed the camera and waves goodbye	Music playing
00:03:17	Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency logo	Music playing

Time	00:00:00
Visual info	Scenic shoots of Burkes Pass
Audio info	Caption: This is Burkes Pass. The kind of place you want to stop and take a photo.

Time	00:00:12
Visual info	Interview with Jane Bachelor from the Burkes Pass Heritage Trust
Audio info	There's the old school, the old schoolhouse, Cobb cottages - there's a huge list of heritage present here in Burkes Pass.

Time	00:00:27
Visual info	Scenic shoots of Burkes Pass
Audio info	Caption: The tiny rural community sits on State Highway 8 and is often called the gateway to the McKenzie Country.

Time	00:00:33
Visual info	Interview with Jane Bachelor from the Burkes Pass Heritage Trust
Audio info	It's on the route to Mt Cook and the lakes. People come here when they're going through to Wanaka. I've been very aware of the highway issues.

Time	00:00:45
Visual info	Scenic shoots of Burkes Pass
Audio info	Caption: Because it's such a popular place to stop, visitors were often having to cross the highway in a high speed zone of 80km.

Time	00:00:52
Visual info	Interview with Tracey Rackley, a local resident
Audio info	We live in the old Burkes Pass hotel, so we get to see what's going on with the traffic and issues for people to cross the road to go to the toilet. Quite a few near misses. It's really quite scary because the cars travel together quite closely, especially at peak seasons.

Time	00:01:08
Visual info	Footage of Jane watching cars go past
Audio info	Caption: So the local community started talking to Waka Kotahi and other agencies on ways to make the area safer.

Time	00:01:16
Visual info	Interview with Jane Bachelor from the Burkes Pass Heritage Trust
Audio info	We have the planted thresholds, the entrance and exit signs to the township to try and give visual clues.

Time	00:01:25
Visual info	Jessica Rattray speaking to camera
Audio info	This isn't just about how vehicles travel as fast as possible along a corridor, but also how the road and the people interact together.

Time	00:01:33
Visual info	Scenic shoots of Burkes Pass
Audio info	Caption: A month of speed monitoring by Waka Kotahi showed almost 25% of all traffic through the township was exceeding 80km. With tens of thousands of peoplecrossing the road each year, a decision was made to reduce the speed.

Time	00:01:48
Visual info	Interview with Tracey Rackley, a local resident
Audio info	Now it's a lot better - a lot slower.People can now cross the road and not have to worry about getting run over, and we notice that more people are stopping.

Time	00:02:01
Visual info	Jessica Rattray speaking to camera
Audio info	While it may be perceived as just lowering speed limits, it's ensuring we can make journeys safer on the roads and that the speed limits are appropriate for everyone using them - not only for the people travelling from A to B, but for people to be able to pull out from their driveway safely, or people pulling into intersections.

Time	00:02:20
Visual info	Interview with Jane Bachelor from the Burkes Pass Heritage Trust
Audio info	We're just so relieved to have the speed reduced to 60 km/h. The reduction in speed was noticeable for most vehicles almost immediately.

Time	00:02:35
Visual info	Shoots of the Burkes Pass 60km zone sign
Audio info	Caption: Safer speeds will help achieve our goal to reduce deaths and serious injuries on New Zealand's roads by 40% in the next decade.

Time	00:02:42
Visual info	Jessica Rattray speaking to camera
Audio info	Even slightly slower speeds allow drivers to correct their driving, so any mistakes a driver makes can be corrected or can be reduced in terms of fatal and serious outcomes.

Time	00:03:57
Visual info	Interview with Jane Bachelor from the Burkes Pass Heritage Trust
Audio info	We really appreciated them making this change for us, and for the whole of New Zealand, because most of New Zealand seems to pass through Burkes Pass at some point.

Time	00:03:11
Visual info	A motorcycle drive passed the camera and waves goodbye
Audio info	Music playing

Time	00:03:17
Visual info	Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency logo
Audio info	Music playing