Dozens of people gathered at
Whangārei Town Basin for Road Safety week on Friday for a walk around The Loop and the placing of 24 crosses, which represent the number of road fatalities in the region last year.
Dozens of people gathered at
Whangārei Town Basin for Road Safety week on Friday for a walk around The Loop and the placing of 24 crosses, which represent the number of road fatalities in the region last year.
As Road Safety Week draws to a close, the multimillion-dollar cost of treating crash injuries in Northland has been laid bare.
The week, coordinated by the road safety charity Brake, aims to raise awareness about preventing deaths and injuries on the road.
Northland continues to have oneof the highest road-death rates in the country: 24 people died on Northland roads last year.
Those lives were honoured today with 24 white crosses placed where the Road Safety Hero run/walk of the Hātea Loop took place in Whangārei.
Twenty four crosses were placed at
Whangārei Town Basin today to mark the number of deaths on Northland roads last year.
ACC has released 2025 figures showing the impact of road injuries across Northland, with 1770 claims from crashes costing $46 million to help people recover.
Research shows young drivers are most likely to crash during the first six months of holding a restricted licence.
Jacob Papera, centre, is a road safety hero advocate with, from left, Hato Hone St John critical care paramedic Mark Going,
Whangārei District Council road safety programme manager Nicola Korach, Northland Road Safety Trust manager Ashley Johnston, acting Northland road policing manager Stephanie Hudson and police community engagement manager Samantha Jones. Papera survived injuries from a crash in 2021 that should have killed him.
Some of the kids from Educare Okara, who loved the mini trucks that were at the Road Safety Week event in
Whangārei on Friday
ACC injury prevention leader James Whitaker said road injuries made up a small proportion of ACC claims but their impact was significant.
“Young drivers are four times as likely to be in a crash if they are using their phones while driving,” he said.
“It’s pretty tempting when you hear notifications coming through – the best way to prevent that temptation is to pop your phone on ‘do not disturb’ before you get behind the wheel.”
In 2025, road injuries accounted for less than 2% of injury claims nationally but 11% of the total costs, or $766 million, reflecting the severity and complexity of these injuries.
“This higher cost is driven by the nature of road trauma. The average cost per claim is $14,500 – nearly 10 times higher than sports injuries and three times that of workplace injuries.”
