Otaki Police take action re Holiday and Race Traffic

Due to very long delays for vehicles leaving the grounds after the same event last year Otaki Police undertook a problem solving exercise.
The hold up was Race traffic being unable to access the Otaki State Highway One roundabout due to heavy Southbound Holiday traffic flow.
The same conditions were expected today.
The following steps were taken:* Announcements at the races advising Northbound traffic to turn right up Rahui Rd, and left into Freemans Rd to regain State Highway One via Te manuao Rd.    * Signage on Rahui Rd    * Control at the Roundabout consisting of : 1/ North and Eastbound traffic being blocked from accessing Rahui Rd. 2/ Southbound traffic being restricted to the right hand lane only. 3/ Traffic exiting Rahui Rd only had a (free) left turn onto State Highway One to merge with the Southbound traffic. The results were, despite heavy traffic in both directions:    * Traffic kept moving on both roads    * Race traffic cleared in less than half the time it took last year.    * After the race traffic had cleared the tailback on State Highway One cleared in 14 minutes. After a debrief by Police at the Racing Club the operation was declared a success. Both will work towards better signage and messages to the public for Next Year.