At its meeting in Dunedin last week, the committee also called for a lower legal alcohol level, an increase in the driving age, to 16, and changes to the give way laws.
But it was a series of photographs presented by Southern district road policing manager Inspector Andrew Burns which sparked comment on the dangers presented by the position of power poles.
The photographs were of a corner in Southland where two 18-year-old men died in December 2007, when their vehicle failed to take a bend and hit a power pole on the edge of the road.
Insp Burns said the driver had not been drinking and had done "nothing wrong", apart from losing control as the corner "tightened up on him".
A crash analyst could not work out why he crashed, and could only think that a lack of signs at the approach to the corner was the problem.
Insp Burns said if the pole had not been there, the car would have simply ended up in the flax bushes.
The two who died were Michael Joseph Blackburn, of Otatara, and Raymond Douglas McKee, of Winton.
Insp Burns said signs had still not been put at the bend, almost two years after the crash.
Waitaki member of the committee Alistair Mavor said local authorities and lines companies should considermore carefully where they placed poles.
"They've got this aerial trespass rule.
"They don't like to trespass over the property boundary away from the road reserve, so they put power poles, in some cases, close to the road."
Mr Mavor referred to a line of poles in Cameron Rd, Papakaio, Waitaki Valley, that he considered were placed close to the road when there was the option of putting them further back in a safer position.
Network Waitaki chief executive Graham Clark said the position of poles was often determined by the proximity of private land and the difficulty of obtaining easements.
He was not aware of Mr Mavor's concerns, but "our door is always open".
Committee member and Queenstown mayor Clive Geddes said use of road reserves by infrastructure companies was increasing, and there was a need for a national policy.
Dunedin City Council transportation planning manager Don Hill said in countries like Sweden, the approach was to reduce the speed limit where there were such hazards along road sides.
He said it would take a "quantum shift in mindset" for that approach to be introduced in New Zealand.
The meeting last week was also addressed by Ministry of Transport policy projects manager David Eyre, who is touring the country seeking input into a new road safety strategy called "Safer Journeys".
He said motorists tended not to think about what was on the side of the road, such as ditches, power poles and fences, but they made a "big difference to the consequences of crashes".
"Obviously, we can't remove all power poles and we can't remove all ditches, but where there's been a lot of those types of crashes we consider whether it would be worth doing that in some areas."
The "Safer Journeys" discussion document ranks roads and road sides as one of its five "high concerns" alongside drink-driving, the safety of young drivers, speed and motorcycling.
The Otago committee has set up a working group, to draft a submission for the strategy before October 2.
Responding to Otago Daily Times questions after the meeting, Grady Cameron, chief executive officer of Aurora Network, which owns 51,379 poles in Dunedin and Central Otago, said its "agents" determined the best place to put poles.
The network also received "input" from the New Zealand Transport Agency or the relevant local authority before work began.
Putting new lines on private property required agreement from landowners, and "this is not an easy task".
After a crash involving a pole, Aurora considered whether the pole should be shifted.
"All too often, they cannot.
"Indeed, often neighbours on adjoining property want the pole to remain where it was, as it has protected their property.
"We know of one property where a pole has stopped several cars from going over a bank and on to a private dwelling."
He noted that often when a car hit a pole the driver was breaking the law.
"If the pole was not there they would usually have hit something [private property] or someone else, with similar tragic results."
Local authorities can insist new lines are put underground, but not existing lines, unless they are prepared to pay.
