All Access. All in one subscription. From $2 per week
Subscribe now

All Access Weekly

From $2 per week
Pay just
$15.75
$2
per week ongoing
Subscribe now
BEST VALUE

All Access Annual

Pay just
$449
$49
per year ongoing
Subscribe now
Learn more
30
NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
    • Cooking the Books
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Paramedics are counting the horror of New Zealand's rising road toll

By Ben Leahy, Carla Penman and Nikki Preston
NZ Herald·
6 May, 2018 05:00 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Focus: St John paramedic speaks about coping with ?hundreds? of fatal road crashes
Waitakere Territory Manager Andy Everiss says he?s recently had to duck off home to hug his two young girls after attending serious crashes involving children. ...
Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
/
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
0:00
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time -0:00
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions settings, opens captions settings dialog
    • captions off, selected

      This is a modal window.

      Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.

      Text
      Text Background
      Caption Area Background
      Font Size
      Text Edge Style
      Font Family

      End of dialog window.

      This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button.

      Herald NOW: Monday Markets with Zoe Wallis 26 May

      UP NEXT:

      Autoplay in
      4
      Disable Autoplay
      Cancel Video
      Waitakere Territory Manager Andy Everiss says he’s recently had to duck off home to hug his two young girls after attending serious crashes involving children.
      NOW PLAYING • Focus: St John paramedic speaks about coping with ?hundreds? of fatal road crashes
      Waitakere Territory Manager Andy Everiss says he?s recently had to duck off home to hug his two young girls after attending serious crashes involving children. ...
      Brutal reality of deaths hits medics as road crash numbers keep climbing.

      Most people in car crashes aren't ready to die.

      You see it in the pained look on their faces, Auckland Rescue Helicopter chief paramedic Karl Taylor says.

      For St John Waitakere manager Andy Everiss, it is the deaths and injuries to children that tug at his heart and send him rushing home to clutch his young daughters to his chest.

      "There's been a couple of days where I've had to cut the day short and go home and give my kids a hug because I've seen a child that's been seriously injured or killed on the roads," he said.

      All Access. All in one subscription. From $2 per week
      Subscribe now

      All Access Weekly

      From $2 per week
      Pay just
      $15.75
      $2
      per week ongoing
      Subscribe now
      BEST VALUE

      All Access Annual

      Pay just
      $449
      $49
      per year ongoing
      Subscribe now
      Learn more
      30
      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.
      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      "You just need to go home and see your own and make sure they're safe."

      For Taylor and Everiss, New Zealand's rising road toll cannot be counted in just numbers.

      Like other Kiwi paramedics, firefighters and police officers, it instead takes the form of a collage of faces, blood and tears left behind by each crash.

      This week - to mark Road Safety Week, running from May 7-13 - the Herald talks to a series of frontline emergency workers about the trauma they see everyday on New Zealand's roads.

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      And we find that, sadly, the carnage is becoming far too common.

      One-hundred-and-thirty-four people have now died on New Zealand roads in 2018 as of last Friday, up from 127 at the same time last year and 116 the year before.

      Drivers are "still not getting the message about the dangers of using a phone". Photo / Mark Mitchell
      Drivers are "still not getting the message about the dangers of using a phone". Photo / Mark Mitchell

      St John paramedics are among the emergency teams feeling the pressure.

      Between April 2017 and March 2018, St John crews attended 20,303 crashes, or 8.4 per cent more than during the same period a year earlier.

      Discover more

      New Zealand

      Fatal smash: 20yo on bail in stolen car had crashed before

      20 Apr 03:23 AM
      New Zealand

      One dead after Matamata car crash

      20 Apr 07:16 PM
      New Zealand|crime

      He got out of jail in the morning. By the evening, he had killed his mate in crash

      26 Apr 09:37 PM
      New Zealand

      Coroner pushes for speed reduction after triple fatal

      02 May 01:19 AM

      With more than one person injured in some crashes, it led to 9.4 per cent more patients requiring treatment than a year earlier.

      Much of this is life-saving work.

      Only 10 per cent of crash victims between April 2017 and March 2018 were already dead when paramedics arrived, while 17 per cent were either in a critical or serious condition.

      And the scene that greets paramedics is often "chaos", Everiss said.

      "It's highly emotional. There's lots of screaming, there's broken glass, there's busted vehicles," he said.

      "At times we're dealing with multiple patients and at times, multiple dead."

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.
      Auckland Rescue Helicopter chief Paramedic Karl Taylor.
      Auckland Rescue Helicopter chief Paramedic Karl Taylor.

      Everiss arrived at one crash and was "handed the bloodied body of a two-year-old girl who had been hit by a car".

      "That's pretty traumatic for anybody," he said.

      Police Assistant Commissioner for road policing Sandra Venables says her team will focus on road safety throughout May by running a national operation targeting seatbelts and cellphones.

      She said almost a third of those dying on New Zealand roads were not wearing seatbelts.

      "If they had taken the two seconds it takes to put a belt on they may still be here with their families today," she said.

      "In a car crash you don't have time to hit pause and put your belt on."

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      Road safety charity Brake said, on average, 26 per cent of those who died in a car crash over the last decade were not wearing seatbelts.

      Waitakere Territory Manager Andy Everiss speaks about coping with 'hundreds' of fatal road crashes.
      Waitakere Territory Manager Andy Everiss speaks about coping with 'hundreds' of fatal road crashes.

      Drivers were also "still not getting the message about the dangers of using a phone".

      Brake said 38 per cent of drivers in a survey admitted texting while at the wheel, while 22 per cent admitted making calls on a handheld phone, despite both activities being illegal.

      "Drivers who use a phone to make a call are four times more likely to be in a crash resulting in injury than a driver who isn't distracted," the charity said.

      For his part, Everiss urged drivers to take special care of their children.

      With two girls of his own, he said it breaks his heart to come across young children sitting in the front seat of cars or in incorrectly fixed baby capsules.

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      "Children are very small and they're not responsible for this," he said.

      "It's the adults, their parents, their caregivers, who are responsible to make sure they are safe."

      NEW ZEALAND'S ROAD TOLL:

      •134 people have died as of May 4, 2018, compared to 127 at the same time last year

      •40 females have died compared to 29 at the same time last year, while 94 males have died compared to 98 at the same time last year

      •118 fatal crashes have taken place, compared to 116 at the same time last year

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      •There are more over 60-year-olds dying than any other age group, with 38 fatalities so far. This compares to 18 deaths among those aged 20-24 and 30 deaths among those aged 25-39

      •March was the worst month so far this year with 41 deaths. January was the next worst with 36 deaths

      Save

        Share this article

      Latest from New Zealand

      New ZealandUpdated

      'Heartbreaking': Labour slams National over housing policy

      28 May 10:03 PM
      New Zealand|crimeUpdated

      Person in critical condition after incident at Māngere bus stop

      28 May 09:19 PM
      OpinionUpdated

      NZ Herald comments: The stories open for discussion today

      28 May 09:17 PM

      Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

      sponsored
      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.
      Recommended for you
      How Fonterra stole the show at Bakery China
      Sponsored Stories

      How Fonterra stole the show at Bakery China

      28 May 09:37 PM
      Emmanuel Macron mocks 'shove' incident with wife in staged gesture
      World

      Emmanuel Macron mocks 'shove' incident with wife in staged gesture

      28 May 09:22 PM
      Person in critical condition after incident at Māngere bus stop
      New Zealand

      Person in critical condition after incident at Māngere bus stop

      28 May 09:19 PM
      NZ Herald comments: The stories open for discussion today
      New Zealand

      NZ Herald comments: The stories open for discussion today

      28 May 09:17 PM
      'Basketball sized rocks': SH25 closed by slips in Coromandel
      Bay of Plenty Times

      'Basketball sized rocks': SH25 closed by slips in Coromandel

      28 May 08:57 PM

      Latest from New Zealand

      'Heartbreaking': Labour slams National over housing policy

      'Heartbreaking': Labour slams National over housing policy

      28 May 10:03 PM

      Rotorua MP Todd McClay rejects claims there have been targeted Māori housing cuts.

      Person in critical condition after incident at Māngere bus stop

      Person in critical condition after incident at Māngere bus stop

      28 May 09:19 PM
      NZ Herald comments: The stories open for discussion today

      NZ Herald comments: The stories open for discussion today

      28 May 09:17 PM
      2degress business with Garth Bray: Fonterra Forecast 29 May 2025

      2degress business with Garth Bray: Fonterra Forecast 29 May 2025

      Explore the hidden gems of NSW
      sponsored

      Explore the hidden gems of NSW

      NZ Herald
      • About NZ Herald
      • Meet the journalists
      • Newsletters
      • Classifieds
      • Help & support
      • Contact us
      • House rules
      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms of use
      • Competition terms & conditions
      • Our use of AI
      Subscriber Services
      • NZ Herald e-editions
      • Daily puzzles & quizzes
      • Manage your digital subscription
      • Manage your print subscription
      • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
      • Subscribe to Herald Premium
      • Gift a subscription
      • Subscriber FAQs
      • Subscription terms & conditions
      • Promotions and subscriber benefits
      NZME Network
      • The New Zealand Herald
      • The Northland Age
      • The Northern Advocate
      • Waikato Herald
      • Bay of Plenty Times
      • Rotorua Daily Post
      • Hawke's Bay Today
      • Whanganui Chronicle
      • Viva
      • NZ Listener
      • What the Actual
      • Newstalk ZB
      • BusinessDesk
      • OneRoof
      • Driven CarGuide
      • iHeart Radio
      • Restaurant Hub
      NZME
      • About NZME
      • NZME careers
      • Advertise with NZME
      • Digital self-service advertising
      • Book your classified ad
      • Photo sales
      • NZME Events
      • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
      All Access. All in one subscription. From $2 per week
      Subscribe now

      All Access Weekly

      From $2 per week
      Pay just
      $15.75
      $2
      per week ongoing
      Subscribe now
      BEST VALUE

      All Access Annual

      Pay just
      $449
      $49
      per year ongoing
      Subscribe now
      Learn more
      30
      TOP
      search by queryly Advanced Search