Our roads have changed, our vehicles have changed, there's more traffic so we need to change the way we drive.
Our roads have changed, our vehicles have changed, there's more traffic so we need to change the way we drive.
OPINION
My heart goes out to the family and friends of the three young women who died in a car crash in Takapau last Tuesday.
Their lives have changed forever and this Christmas there will be an empty seat at their families' table.
It is heartbreaking for them, along withthe friends and families of the other 20 people killed on Hawke's Bay roads this year. That's our highest death toll in five years.
When you compare it with the fact that 28 people in the whole of New Zealand died this year from Covid-19, it's very confronting.
Covid made us all stop and think. It made us come together as a country and realise just what we had to lose.
We have watched overseas hospitals filling up with Covid patients, but thanks to every single person in New Zealand , well 99 per cent of them, we avoided that.
We were good. We did as we were asked and stayed home, we kept our distance and it worked.
Lots of time and effort went into fighting Covid, now it's time to put some time and effort into fighting our terrible road toll.
As Hawke's Bay road policing inspector Matt Broderick said after the Takapau tragedy: "It falls on drivers to understand the risks involved in driving on the region's roads."
So true. It is every driver's responsibility to take the utmost care when they get behind the wheel.
Linda Hall, Assistant Editor, Hawke's Bay Today.
Our roads have changed in the last few years. Our cars are way bigger which means in some places, like Westshore, when you get big cars parked on either side of the road in the same spot, you have to cross the centre line to get past.
Then there are the cycle tracks. I absolutely love the bike tracks and think they are a great attraction to our region, however, the fact remains that in some places by building these tracks our roads have become narrower which means we are driving a lot closer to the centre line and oncoming traffic. And of course there are a whole lot more cars on our roads.
Sometimes I can't believe the amount of traffic around, and trying to get a park in Napier or Havelock North is very frustrating to say the least.
And it's often frustration that causes people to make silly decisions behind the wheel. Frustration with a slow driver, frustration that the kids are squabbling in the back seat, frustration because they have to drive around and around town to find a park.
Our roads have changed, our vehicles have changed, there's more traffic so we need to change the way we drive and use our roads.
There is little room for error so don't look down at your phone or take your eyes from the road to change radio channels, don't look out the side window at the passing scenery, don't get distracted by your kids.
Remember this advice from Mr Broderick about our notoriously narrow roads, with lanes usually three to four metres wide.
"You've really only got a metre to play with either side. Travelling at 100km/h means you're travelling 27 metres per second - to wander off your lane takes just a split second," he said.
"That is the difference between a tragic outcome and safely arriving at your destination."
It appears that thousands of us are getting ready to take a road trip over the summer holidays. Please take care of yourself and other road users. Drive to the road conditions and stay focused.
