Liability for snow fatalities questioned

Press, 2 July 1986, Page 47

Liability for snow fatalities questioned

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington A legal opinion on liability for motor-vehicle accident and fatalities as a result of avalanches is being sought by the National Roads Board. It has deferred for a month a request to send two engineers to Canada during January and February, 1987, to study methods of avalanche control on roads there. The board approved spending $5600 on printing of brochures about the danger of avalanches for distribution to motorists driving in Fiordland National Park during the winter. The 21km section of road between Monkey

Creek south of the Homer Tunnel and the Chasm near Milford Sound was subject to avalanches and the hazard there was as great as anywhere in the world, said the director of roading for the Ministry of Works, Mr Ron Fisher. Keeping the road open in the winter for tourists in Fiordland placed a great responsibility on roading staff. They were concerned, and with reason, that many motorists were still unaware of these avalanche hazards in spite of extensive sign-posting over the high-risk sections of the road, he said. It was planned to distribute the brochure widely in the region during the

winter season. The chairman of the Southland County Council, Sir Erskine Bowman, who is a board member, asked what the legal liability of the roading authorities was if motorists had accidents or lost their lives as a result of an avalanche. Mr Fisher said that was not known, but the number of lives lost could be high if an avalanche hit a tourist bus. it was important to learn what other avalanche-prone countries, like Canada, did. But the chairman of the Auckland Regional Autority, Mr Fred Thomas, said it was premature to send people overseas without knowing what the legal liabilities were.