Road safety drive to save Hawke's Bay teenagers lives

Road Safe Hawke's Bay regional manager Linda Anderson wearing Fatal Vision Goggles which simulate the effect of alcohol on vision and co-ordination. Photo/Duncan Brown

A teenager who remains in a serious condition after a crash in Napier last Thursday is something emergency services and other organisations are trying to prevent during Road Safety Week starting today.

Hawke's Bay students will learn about the importance of safe driving at a road safety expo - designed to stop them becoming a future road fatality statistic - this week.

A male in his late teens was transferred to Wellington Hospital for treatment following a two-car crash on Riverbend Rd, Maraenui, about 7.30pm on Thursday.

Two other males, one in his late teens and one in his early 20s, had both been discharged after previously being in stable conditions at the Hawke's Bay Hospital.

There have been four road fatalities in Gisborne/Hawke's Bay this year (up to last Thursday, May 3, according to the NZ Transport Agency), making it equal with Wellington and Southland as being the third lowest region in the country.

However, Road Safe Hawke's Bay, emergency services and other organisations are hoping to better this statistic in the future by offering their hands-on annual Youth Alcohol Expo for year 11 students at Pettigrew Green Arena from today until Friday.

Senior constable Andy Clinton said police were involved in the expo because they wanted to prevent crashes before they happened.

If the students knew about the consequences of unsafe driving while at the age of getting their licence and learning to drive then it would, hopefully, reduce the number of future fatal road crashes in Hawke's Bay, he said.

"We've stopped people years after they've been at this and they've commented about things they learnt."

Liz Schlierike and Linda Anderson from Road Safe Hawke's Bay getting ready for this week's Youth Alcohol Expo. Photo/Paul Taylor

While Hawke's Bay's road toll wasn't as bad as most other regions, so far, one road fatality was too many, Clinton said.

"We could always do better.

"It's an ongoing battle everywhere, every region is struggling."

By targeting young people, who were deemed high risk because of their age and lack of driving experience, police were aiming to change this, he said.

"Hopefully, by engaging with young people who are just starting to drive, we can make them aware that it's a huge responsibility to be driving ... there are consequences.

"We're trying to bring all those sorts of things to their attention."

Road Safe Hawke's Bay regional manager Linda Anderson said the expo was a chance for all year 11 students, as well as members of the public, to get real life examples of risks and consequences.

"Unfortunately often young and novice drivers are featured in serious crashes in Hawke's Bay.

"We get them to expand their thinking and what it means to be a safe driver."

Many of the students would be just starting out as a driver and needed to learn that the road code didn't teach them everything.

This expo showed them what their responsibilities were and the consequences of their actions, she said.

Road Safe Hawke's Bay regional manager Linda Anderson setting up an emergency department scenario. Photo/Ruby Harfield

New Zealand Police would also be focusing on compliance around wearing seatbelts and drivers not being distracted during Road Safety Week this week and will be extending their campaign throughout May.

Nearly a third of all people who have died on New Zealand roads were not wearing seatbelts.

Last year the Hawke's Bay road toll was the highest it had been since 2012, with 24 people killed on roads between Wairoa and Tararua.

This was almost 70 per cent up on the 13 in 2016, while the 25 in the Eastern Police District, which does not include Tararua but incorporates Gisborne and the East Coast, was nearly double last year's total for the district. Both were the worst since 2012.

One person died after a crash on State Highway 2, north of Dannevirke, on April 19, which was included in the Manawatu/Wanganui region which sits at 13 (up to Thursday, May 3) for road toll statistics.