Holiday road toll: Otago suffers worst death rate since 2007

There have been 25 fatalities on Otago roads this year. Photo / ODT

Clutha resident Stephen Woodhead is calling for a community rethink about road safety after the latest in a "devastating" series of 25 Otago road deaths.

He urged drivers and other community members to "have a good think about our driving behaviour".

"What are the opportunities to take the risks out of the system?" he asked

A young woman aged 17, believed to be from South Otago, was critically injured in a two-car crash south of Balclutha on December 5 and died in Dunedin Hospital on Boxing Day.

"Our thoughts are with her family and loved ones at this difficult time," a police spokesman said yesterday.

Inquiries into the circumstances of the crash were continuing, police said.

Woodhead, who farms in South Otago and is a former Otago Regional Council chairman, said the latest death was also a tragic loss for all involved.

"It's clearly devastating for family and friends," he said.

The death of so many people, including young people with "so much potential in front of them being lost to our community", was particularly concerning.

Before the latest death, 24 people had died on Otago roads this year, the largest number since 2007, when 24 also died.

The lowest Otago annual road death toll in recent decades was 11 in 2009, and the highest was 43 in 1988.

Woodhead said it was ironic that New Zealanders had worked together to counter the threat of Covid-19 and "dealt with it very well" and that only 25 people had died from the pandemic throughout the country.

It was disappointing that 25 people had died from the road crashes in Otago alone this year, and at least another 11 people had died in Southland.

It seemed counterintuitive that so many people had died in Otago, when the lockdown in the first half of the year had reduced the amount of driving, and there were fewer drivers on the roads because overseas tourists could not enter the country.

He knew nothing about the circumstances of the crash on December 5 and was unsure why overall Otago road deaths had spiked this year.

All drivers had to take individual responsibility and other people could also play a valuable role in supporting and encouraging safe driving.

Such steps could include offering accommodation for visiting drivers who might be tired and unsafe to drive.

There was a "traumatic impact" when things went wrong, and he urged everyone to "be a bit more careful and get home safely".