by Anne-Marie Emerson
Wanganui has a serious drink-driving problem that's a major factor in the region's grim toll of road deaths, police say.
Police figures show Wanganui is heading for one of its worst years for road deaths, and they say the same three issues keep causing fatalities: alcohol, speed and fatigue.
Ten
people have died on Wanganui roads in the year to the end of October. That compares to five at the corresponding time last year, 13 in 2007, 10 in 2006 and nine in 2005.
Sergeant Allan Storey, from the road policing intelligence unit, said Wanganui had a serious problem with drink-driving.
"An awful lot of people in Wanganui are driving while drunk. Our alcohol tag team are always catching drink-drivers."
This year, to the end of October, 73 people in Wanganui had been caught driving over the legal limit, out of a total of 15,500 drivers breath-tested.
"That's way too high. We would much prefer there were no drink-drivers at all."
Mr Storey said fatigue was also a major factor in serious crashes. He said it was a particularly difficult problem for police, because it couldn't easily be detected by someone else.
"How do you know when someone is tired? We can test for speed, or for drugs or alcohol, but no one has yet found a way to test for fatigue."
Road fatality numbers were even more bleak when widened to include the central district, taking in Wanganui, Rangitikei, Manawatu, Taranaki, Ruapehu, and Horowhenua.
Fifty-two people have died this year on the district's roads - the highest figure since 2001. More people have died on central district roads this year than anywhere else in New Zealand.
At the corresponding time last year 35 people had died on central district roads. A record low of 40 people died on central district roads last year but police analysts are predicting about 60 deaths this year if fatal crashes continue at the same rate.
The worst year in recent times for the central district was 1997 when 74 people died on the region's roads.
Central district road policing manager Inspector Neil Wynne said the high number of deaths was frustrating. "Alcohol has played a large part, speed has played a large part and inattention. But some of the crashes we've had so far make you think, 'How did this happen'?"
Far too many people "drive along in a daze", he said.
