Low road in Bay toll still too high say police

Fourteen people died on Western Bay roads last year - half the toll of 2003 and the second-best tally on record for at least six years.
Across the wider Bay of Plenty, the official road toll of 62 was the second-best since modern records began in the 1960s.
But police are determined to slash this figure in half within four years. Sergeant Ian Campion, head of the Strategic Traffic Unit based in Greerton, said the 14 deaths on Western Bay roads was still too many.
Alcohol played a role in more than a third of the fatal crashes in the Western Bay. It is an area police are going to hammer this year.
"I really believe that if police tackle the drunk driver problem there will be a reduction in fatal accidents," Mr Campion said.
Despite the Bay of Plenty's relatively low toll for last year, it was the highest for any region in the country - followed by Central Districts with 60 fatalities and Counties-Manukau with 48.
Nationally, 435 people died on the roads last year.
Rotorua-based road policing manager Kevin Taylor said the biggest risks on the roads continued to be drunk drivers and failing to wear restraints such as seatbelts.
The 23 people killed in alcohol-related crashes in the Bay of Plenty last year was 37 per cent of the total. This compared to 30 per cent nationally.
The 17 people who died because they were not buckled in was 27 per cent of the total, compared to the national figure of 23 per cent.
Mr Taylor said police had targeted speedsters on state highways and in urban areas, which had resulted in fewer accidents because of speed.
Excessive speed was a factor in only 10 of the fatal crashes.
Most of the people who died on Bay of Plenty roads lived in the region.
"The goal is to see no more than 25 people die on our roads by 2008," Mr Taylor said.
"This will not happen without some major changes in the driving attitudes of many people who share the roads with us."
Police will continue to target drunk drivers and show zero tolerance to people who do not wear seatbelts.
Nor will there be any let-up on speedsters.
"If the communities making up the Bay of Plenty want this record to change then we collectively need to change our attitudes and behaviour on the roads."
The Bay of Plenty holiday road toll for Christmas-New Year was zero when the period ended at 6am last Wednesday.
Nationally, the toll was nine - the lowest number of road deaths since the 1968/69 holiday period when eight people died.
The holiday figure last year was 13 deaths.