Car cut in half gives serious message

It may only be half a car but, when it's on the road, it gets more than half a glance.
The sliced Ford Laser is a startling and effective new seat restraint education tool devised by Hawke's Bay Road Safety Compliance Trust manager Nigel Hurley - and put together by several businesses as a community effort.
Mr Hurley, a police officer who has seen the tragic results of unrestrained children in cars involved in crashes, spotted a similar "half-car" in Auckland more than a year ago and had it in his mind to create something which could be used throughout the Bay.
Six months ago, the wheels began turning, plans began to emerge and, during the past couple of months, the "Klik Klak Cat" has taken shape.
He approached Mick Donaldson at A1 Salvage in Napier and asked if he had a suitable car, with the back end in reasonable nick, which he could donate for the purpose of being cut in half. Mr Donaldson was all too keen to help.
He came up with the Ford and had it delivered to SW Jones Transport in Onekawa where staff were happy to do their bit in their own time.
"This is a $6000 to $7000 project in terms of time and labour - not a bad community effort," Mr Hurley said.
It was something he and the trust wanted to get up and running as it was clear work had to be done to get people to strap children in cars safely.
He said when the trust began about 10 years ago Hawke's Bay had the worst record for non-compliance of seat-restraint rules. It had got better through the trust's campaigns, alongside Roadsafe Hawke's Bay and police, but a couple of blitzes in the past two years had been disappointing.
During a one-week period in an intensive blitz last March, police issued nearly 100 tickets to people who were using child car seats without proper anchoring straps.
Mr Hurley said two "horror" cases also emerged - one of a woman driving with a 6-month-old baby completely unrestrained in the back seat and a 2-year-old using an armrest as a seat.
The Klik Klak Cat makes the display of how to correctly attach and use the proper child restraints easy and effective because no front seats are in the way.
The unit would be widely used, Mr Hurley said.
It had only been finished yesterday, then was taken to Wairoa today to be part of a community event.