Praise for the push to make our rural roads safer.

More than $20 million which is already earmarked for road works, will be spent on improving rural highways.

Rumble strips, better signage and safety barriers will be installed on roads where there's a history of bad crashes.

Research Fellow at the New Zealand Initiative Sam Warburton told Mike Hosking better signage is important, especially around corners in rural roads.

"It might be several kilometres since you've last seen a sign telling you what the general speed limit on the road is, so if it's 80 kilometres, 10 kilometres or 100 kilometres."

LISTEN ABOVE AS SAM WARBURTON SPEAKS WITH MIKE HOSKING