Covid 19 coronavirus: Concerns too many people travelling during lockdown in Dunedin

Paul Gouverneur, of Waldronville, was surprised to see an unusually large number of vehicles on the road during a nationwide lockdown.

He said Monday's traffic resembled that of a normal Dunedin work day and believed there needed to be further traffic stops in the area.

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Mr Gouverneur had been monitoring the traffic from his balcony, which overlooked Brighton Rd, for "something to do" under the stay-at-home restrictions.

Paul Gouverneur, of Waldronville, Dunedin, said the traffic on Brighton Rd had resembled that of a normal week, pre-Level 4 restrictions, and believed people were undertaking non-essential travel.

A constant stream of vehicles and the buzz of engines had not seemed to slow down since the move into alert level 4 last week.

He said while he understood it would be a difficult time for people, he had been "frustrated" many had not been adhering to the stay-at-home message.

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website

"It should not take lots of people dying for people to take this seriously."

Southern district police have repeatedly urged people to use their vehicles only to access essential services, including grocery shopping, the bank and pharmacy, or to go to their essential service jobs.

Travelling in a vehicle to exercise somewhere was not allowed under lockdown restrictions, police said in a Facebook post.

Police would continue to monitor movements of those outside their homes and ask them where and why they were travelling.

molly.houseman@odt.co.nz