One hundred deaths too many

Acting Senior Sergeant Deirdre Lack has been to so many fatal crashes, her workmates call her Dr Death.
In her 10 years in the police in the Western Bay of Plenty, she has been to more than 100 fatal crashes.
In the past few years, that area has achieved a big reduction in killer road smashes and she's thrilled to have finally lost her nickname.
But since coming to Rotorua in August to be acting leader of the police traffic section, she has been horrified at the city's shocking rate of seatbelt compliance. She fears she'll find herself having to go to more fatal crashes if locals don't start belting up.
Ms Lack was shocked when her staff carried out a campaign this month resulting in 100 people being given $150 instant fines over a four-day period for not wearing seatbelts. Only about 250 cars were stopped.
Several of the fatal crashes Ms Lack attended involved people failing to wear seatbelts.
One in particular in Tauranga was pretty hard to take. A 16-year-old girl in a back seat of a car was thrown upwards and hit her head on the inside pillar. The girl died of head injuries. The crash happened in a 50km/h area and no one else was injured.
It was horrific experiences that like this that made her want to become involved in traffic policing.
Five years ago she went to the Highway Patrol based in Te Puke to help make a difference.
Going to fatal crash scenes doesn't get any easier.
"It does affect you. You fall into a bit of hole you can't get out of. That's where you need the support of your family and friends. The police are like one big family so we look out for each other."
"I've had a lot of sleepless night because I get flashbacks of what I've seen. But flashbacks are good, if you didn't have them it means you're not letting them out."
She can't understand why some people each day risk their lives and put emergency services through hell by not wearing seatbelts.
She often feels anger when she's dealing with a fatal crash scene where someone has failed to wear a seatbelt.
"Who has to tell the family of someone who dies? ... There are so many consequences of not wearing a seatbelt."
She's promising to keep doing checkpoints around Rotorua during the coming weeks until the message sinks in.