A plea from police today for more vigilance on the part of drivers brings to mind Hawke's Bay Today's front page report of last Saturday.
That report detailed how almost 800 casualties on Hawke's Bay and Gisborne roads last year cost the community nearly $260 million.
"Casualties" are those
injured or killed in road accidents. The information was collated by NZTA. The $260m figure - $259.8m to be precise - accounts for the costs of loss of life or quality of life, loss due to injury, medical and rehabilitation costs, property damage, and legal and court costs.
The report revealed that in 2010 there were 161 road trauma accidents, of which 25 were fatal while 136 were classified as serious. There were also 637 minor injuries from road accidents and 1379 non-injury crashes.
When broken down into districts, Hastings had the highest road toll, with 319 crashes, 12 of them fatal. Wairoa fared best, with 63 accidents and only one fatal; then Central Hawke's Bay with 61 accidents, two fatals; Gisborne with 181 accidents, six fatals; and Napier with 174 accidents, four fatals.
