Nearly two lives a day have been lost on New Zealand roads in the last week of April amid a spike in fatal crashes.
According to provisional NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) data, the road toll stands at 120, with 35 fatalities in April alone.
The number of deaths since Thursday last week, reached 13 yesterday, after two people died in an after-dark crash between a car and truck on State Highway 1 near Kinleith, South Waikato.
One person was also killed and four others injured in a two-vehicle crash on SH2 in rural Hawke’s Bay earlier that evening.
Acting Assistant Commissioner Steve Greally, road policing and district support, told the Herald that police view any death on the road as a tragedy, but the past week had been “particularly horrific”.
“Our purpose is to make sure that everybody in New Zealand, whether you’re a resident, a citizen, or a tourist, is safe and feels safe,” he said.
“When people lose their lives on our roads, that’s really confronting for our people.”
On Monday, three people died in a crash on the Desert Rd shortly before midnight after their car crossed the centre line and collided with a tanker truck, closing the road overnight.
The day before, one person was killed at a rural Taranaki intersection and another woman severely injured on a residential street in Christchurch.
The woman - the vehicle’s sole occupant - died overnight after being taken to hospital, police said.
Five more people died on New Zealand roads in the days prior, including 85-year-old ex-Māori All Blacks captain Dinny Mohi, who died in a two-vehicle crash early on Saturday.
Mohi was being driven by his daughter to an Anzac Day dawn service in Rotorua around 5.30am when their car collided with another on SH36, killing him and the other driver instantly.
On April 23, one person died in an early-morning collision involving a car and a truck on SH29 and another was killed in a single-vehicle crash in Auckland’s Wellsford around 10.20pm.
The third casualty was announced on Sunday, when a person critically injured in a single-vehicle crash on Canterbury’s Hororata Dunsandel Rd that day later died in hospital.
Greally said road deaths in New Zealand have significantly declined in the past four years, and warned against a knee-jerk reaction to the sudden spike.
“Having said that, when we think about the common causes for these kinds of traumatic crashes, four things ring true in most, if not all of them.”
He cited restraint issues, impairment from alcohol, drugs or fatigue and distractions and speed.
Road and weather conditions also played a part and, as New Zealand heads into winter, Greally rehashed the police’s longstanding advice to slow down, increase braking distance between vehicles and be aware of the environment.
“We want people to do the right thing, slow down, be patient ... for God’s sake, enjoy the journey because we have a beautiful country here.”
However, Greally noted patience on the roads is a virtue many Kiwis still fall short on.
“For some reason in New Zealand, we want to be at the head of the queue,” he said.
“I don’t understand it, but it seems to be what a lot of Kiwis do. And we have to stop that.
“We’ve got to understand that driving on our roads is inherently dangerous, but it doesn’t have to be if people observe the basic rules.”
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