Crash scene where eight people were killed and a boy critically injured following a head-on crash near Ohakuri Rd, Atiamuri, Taupō, on 28 April 2019. Photo / Ben Fraser
Crash scene where eight people were killed and a boy critically injured following a head-on crash near Ohakuri Rd, Atiamuri, Taupō, on 28 April 2019. Photo / Ben Fraser
Motorists are being asked to take road safety more seriously by police as the number killed on NZ roads hits the highest year-to-date figure since 2009.
This year 144 people have lost their lives on our roads - eight more than this time last year, with 16 in the last34 days on Taupō district roads.
International Road Safety Week begins today, and authorities want drivers to remind themselves of their duty to keep themselves and people on the road safe.
Julie Anne Genter. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter said: "The number of deaths on our roads is simply heartbreaking."
She said the Government's Vision Zero road safety plan aimed to drop the number of road deaths by half in the next 10 years, and aimed to reduce the speed limits on the country's most dangerous roads to 80km/h.
Police National Manager of Road Policing, Superintendent Steve Greally, said any deaths on the roads was "one too many".
Superintendent Steve Greally, National Manager Road Policing. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The number who had died on the roads this year was tracking higher than the 377 who died last year.
Greally said four actions - proper restraints, no impairment, no distractions and a safe speed - were "proven steps" that helped kept drivers and others on the road alive.
"There is no excuse, you either take road safety seriously or you put your own life, as well as everyone else's on the road, at risk," Greally said.
New Zealand Transport Agency General Manager Greg Lazzaro urged drivers to avoid checking their phones while driving.
"Whether it's checking your phone, adjusting the GPS or doing anything that distracts you from the task of driving ... you may not have time to react and avoid a crash," Lazzaro said.
"Even when speed doesn't cause the crash, the speed on impact can be the difference between walking away from a crash or being carried away in an ambulance or a hearse."
He said all drivers had a duty to their passengers and other road users.
Today, a funeral is being held for Lower Hutt woman Jenny Rodgers, 51, who died in a head-on crash between Wairakei and Atiamuri on April 28 in which eight people were killed.
Meanwhile, the mother of two teenage boys killed in a Christchurch car crash following a police pursuit told Radio New Zealand she had warned health workers and police just a month earlier that they were at risk.
Craig McCallister, 13, his brother Glen, 16, and their friend Brooklyn Taylor died in January when their stolen car hit road spikes, crashed into a tree and burst into flames.
Mother Juanita Hickey said she had begged an occupational therapist from the Christchurch District Health Board and police in December to help Craig, who had mental health problems and warned them about what might happen.
The DHB declined a request to be interviewed for the story citing privacy reasons, despite Hickey having given permission to RNZ to discuss the case.
