Holiday road toll: Five deaths 'a real tragic start', top cop says

Emergency services attended a crash involving a truck, pictured, and a car on Taieri Plains Highway, Otago, about 9.15am on Christmas Day. Photo / ODT

Police are calling on motorists to slow down and avoid distractions as 17 people have now died on the country's roads over the past 10 days, three on Christmas Day alone.

Assistant commissioner Bruce O'Brien labelled the period "absolutely horrendous" which has also seen five people die since the country's official road toll kicked off on Christmas Eve.

"It's a real tragic start ... we're still seeing the same trends; excessive speed, impairment either alcohol, drugs or fatigue, people still using distraction devices such as cellphones and people still not wearing their seatbelts."

The deaths have occurred near Taupo on Christmas Eve, in Gordonton, Hamilton, about 9.20am Christmas Day and another on SH1 Otago at the same time, New Windsor, Auckland about 10.15pm followed by another crash on the Lewis Pass about 3.30am on Boxing Day.

O'Brien said people need to get out of the habit of using their phones while driving.

"Connect it to bluetooth or put it in glovebox and put it away.

"Unfortunately we are still seeing far too many people using their cellphones when they're driving and it completely distracts you from what you're doing and puts you at greater risk of hurting or killing yourself or another road user."

There was always an increase in crashes over the festive period but O'Brien agreed Covid-19 had made the year even longer for people.

"In Dec and January the crash risk does increase, people going away on unfamiliar roads that they may not have driven on before.

"Its been a long year for everybody in the country with Covid, so fatigue kicks in, travelling long distances, it's hot, people get impatient and then they make bad decisions, speeding or overtaking in really dangerous spots and it just puts themselves at a really high risk of killing themselves or somebody else."

Asked about their aim to reduce road deaths by 40 per cent by 2030, O'Brien said these tragic starts to the holiday period didn't help that.

"But rather than looking at the target look at what sits in behind those, and they're humans, they're families, they're uncles, sons, daughters so we really have to start thinking, these are people dying on the roads."

Police were actively patrolling the roads and would intervene when necessary but he said at the end of the day, the responsibility fell on the driver's shoulders.

"Ultimately this comes back to driver behaviour and drivers have the sole responsibility when they get into their car, for themselves, their passengers and other road users.

"It's pretty simple if you are going too fast and you do have to make a decision ... [where] you've got to stop ... those things don't go in your favour if you're going too fast."

He reminded people that although there were speed limits, there would also be times where people would have to adapt their driving to the conditions and travel below those speeds at times.