Editorial: Think for others when you are on the road

Andrew Austin, Editor of Hawke's Bay Today.

The recent death toll on our roads has made for grim reading.

Whenever I hear of another fatal crash, I always immediately think of the poor families who have lost loved ones. It is not something you would wish on anyone and it must be a terrible job for police to be the bearers of such bad tidings.

Unfortunately it can happen to everyone and anyone who has ever driven will have had a moment where they think that something bad could have happened. It may be a car cutting in front of you or you taking your eyes off the road for a second or a car drifting across the centre line when it passes you.

Whatever it is, it can be quite a sobering feeling and makes you realise how important it is to always have your wits about you. As my father-in-law used to say: "You need to think for all the other drivers on the road".

But it is the recent spate of four deaths on Napier-Hastings roads that have shocked police. They have warned that unless motorists make the right decisions at the wheel, the toll will keep climbing.

In the latest crash 54-year-old Ross Leslie Hallgarth of Hastings was killed in a two-car collision on York Rd, Hastings at about 11am on Saturday. We send our condolences to his family. Hawke's Bay Road Policing group sergeant Paul Ormerod said a ute travelling east had been overtaken by a small green vehicle, possibly a Honda Accord from the 1990s. A Suzuki car driven by Mr Hallgarth, which was travelling west, had then taken evasive action and lost control, crashing head-on into the ute.

This is where the police need your help, because the small green vehicle did not stop after the incident.

So, if you know anything contact the police so that something can be done about bringing the road toll down.

Behind every fatal crash is a grieving family and the fewer we have of those the better.