Zizi Sparks: Road safety key as school holidays prompt domestic travel

A stretch of State Highway 2 between Tauranga and Katikati. Photo / File

COMMENT

Driving through the gorge between Rotorua and Pyes Pa last weekend I was stuck behind a slowpoke.

I knew there was a slow vehicle bay ahead so waited to pass. The driver behind me wasn't so patient and passed on a blind corner.

Ten seconds later we passed a car coming the other way. If that driver had been 10 seconds faster, they and the passing driver could have collided.

Meanwhile, a mobile speed camera installed on the highway between Tauranga and Katikati in late June snapped 157 speeding drivers in the first five hours of operation, one going as much as 31km/h over the limit.

The stretch is considered one of New Zealand's most dangerous roads, having claimed at least 60 lives in the past 20 years. Safety improvements worth $101 million are being worked on but the speeding drivers are putting road workers at risk.

That's unacceptable and should be a reminder to keep to the limit, follow the road rules and be patient, especially as families travel around the country these school holidays.

The speed limit is just that, a limit. And it's a limit for a reason.

According to the Ministry of Transport, between 2016 and 2018 driver speed was a factor in 29 per cent of fatal crashes, 20 per cent of serious injury crashes and 16 per cent of minor injury crashes.

Speed directly affects the outcome of a crash and even speeding between one and 10km/h over the limit is dangerous.

As Covid-19 means an increase in domestic over international travel, more people are hitting the roads these school holidays. It's important to follow the rules. Getting to your destination alive is more important than trying to get to your destination quickly and not making it.

So next time you are driving past a worksite follow the speed limit. Imagine if that roadworker is your son or your daughter. You would not drive past them 31km/h above the limit.

And next time you drive past a speed sign, take a glance down at the odometer and make sure the figures match.

Don't be a statistic.