TAIC Report - Council questions findings

A report released today by the Transport Accident Investigation Commission into a fatal accident on the Kawarau River, has been questioned by the Queenstown Lakes District Council.

“This was a tragedy in which two members of our community were lost and two others were seriously injured - we welcomed the TAIC investigation and co-operated fully,” QLDC regulatory and corporate general manager Roger Taylor said.

The Council concurred with findings relating to wearing of life jackets and the operation of a craft on the wrong side of the river, along with the finding that potentially unsafe speed was an issue.

“At the time of the accident this Council was already working towards introducing the compulsory wearing of lifejackets by way of a bylaw. Wearing of lifejackets is now mandatory in the Lakes District,” Mr Taylor said.

What the Council did not accept were findings pertaining to the uplifting of the 5 knot speed limit on the Kawarau River (where the accident occurred in January 2009) or the connection made by the TAIC report from an investigation into a recreational accident to findings regarding commercial operators.

“During the investigation this Council has questioned the Commission on the scope of this investigation and made subsequent submissions regarding the findings,” Mr Taylor said.

In regards to the 5 knot issue, the Council considered the report failed to acknowledge the context of the historic Kawarau River speed uplifting but acknowledged there may be some merit in looking at the uplifting process from the perspective of national consistency. Council will work with Maritime New Zealand and others over this.

“The uplifting of the 5 knot limit on the Kawarau River was made in the 1980’s. The context being that - as stated by Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) - uplifting of the 5 knot speed limit applied to “almost every navigable river in the country”. It forms the basis of traditional and practical jetboat use in our country”, Mr Taylor said.

As shown by the photographs in the TAIC report, the Kawarau was a large, single waterway channel that had been shared and enjoyed by commercial and recreational users, relatively incident-free for over forty years.

“The TAIC investigation has leveraged off this tragic recreational boating accident to question both the continuation of recreational jet boating on inland waterways nationally, and the safety of commercial jetboating operations,” Mr Taylor said.

The report stated that a commercial operator “routinely” did not travel at safe speeds on the Kawarau River in the region of the January 2009 accident and that this information was based on “common knowledge”.

“The Council acknowledges there have been issues regarding a commercial operator on the Kawarau River, which have been made public. None of these incidents have resulted in any prosecution. We cannot act on anecdotal evidence or hearsay,” Mr Taylor said.

The Council welcomed any safety initiatives regarding commercial jet boating operations; however in its view a wider review by MNZ had more than adequately covered such matters. A new licensing system for commercial operators was already scheduled for introduction in October, this year.

“Commercial jet boats already operate through multiple layers of regulation including safe operating plans, which are approved by MNZ and are audited annually, resource consent conditions, bylaws and Maritime Rules” Mr Taylor said.

Meanwhile the Council supported both the MNZ and Ministry of Transport’s view that a number of the recreational boating recommendations (licensing of recreational users and wearing of helmets) should be referred for further discussion at the National Pleasure Boat Safety Forum in May (2011).