Motorists ignore basics of driving

Police are urging motorists to take care.

Northland police are urging motorists to slow down, wear restraints and not drive after drinking alcohol after a recent spate of fatal and serious injury accidents.

Fatal and serious injury crashes in Northland are on the rise and police say speed, alcohol and not wearing restraints are often to blame.

Northland road policing manager Inspector Murray Hodson said five motorcyclists, six car drivers and one pedestrian had been killed on the roads so far this year. At the same time last year nine people had died in vehicle crashes.

There had also been a spike in people hospitalised for more than three days by serious injury.

"This means ongoing suffering for those injured and their families. The margin between being seriously injured and dying is fine," he added.

Mr Hodson said some motorists are not following the basics of good driving, such as slowing down and driving to the conditions, not driving after drinking alcohol, wearing restraints (seatbelts and approved child seats), and generally concentrating on their driving.

"People are making simple mistakes and are becoming complacent like thinking they only have a short distance to drive, so they will be fine. Many crashes occur when people are near their destination."

Mr Hodson says speed was also creeping up, with the mean speed for suburban streets being clocked at 67.5 km/h in 50km/h speed zones and on the open road it is 117.1km/h in 100km/h speed zones (according to data from infringement notices).

"Drivers also think they won't be caught, but we are increasing the number of roadside checkpoints and putting more road policing staff into our rural communities. The community is also our eyes and ears and do report poor driver behaviour through the *555 number. So drivers won't get away with bad driving."

Police are also working with their partner agencies to reduce trauma on the roads. A number of organisations hold driver licensing programmes to ensure drivers, particularly young people, can get their driver licences and learn to drive safely.

"We work with sports clubs to ensure that people get home safely after drinking. We hold checkpoints that focus on restraint wearing. Northland District Health Board also runs programmes for recidivist drink drivers."

Mr Hodson said the work with partners was not just about enforcement, but prevention to ensure there were fewer victims of road trauma in Northland.

"It is always devastating to have to tell a family that a loved one has died or ended up in hospital with life-threatening injuries. This doesn't have to happen if we all stick to the basic rules of driving and consider all other road users."