Driver dies just after holiday toll cut-off

By STAFF REPORTER and NZPA

The official summer holiday period ended at 6 am yesterday with a provisional death toll of 21 - and 30 minutes later a woman was killed in West Auckland.

In the 6.30 am accident in Simpson Rd, Swanson, a woman driver died and a male passenger was taken to hospital.

No other details were available.

The provisional holiday toll of 21 was marginally worse than last year's 20 deaths, but this year's holiday period was two days shorter than last year, when the holiday period began on the weekend before the usual Christmas Eve start.

The worst summer holiday road toll in the past 22 years was 1981, when 35 people died.

The summer carnage capped a horror month on the roads last month, when 57 people died.

The police national road safety manager, Superintendent Steve Fitzgerald, said investigations over the next couple of months would identify the factors behind the deaths.

"So far as we can tell, it's mostly people driving at inappropriate speeds for the conditions.

"The amount of reports we had for dreadful driving behaviour was shocking.

"The answer is really in people's feet," he said.

Though the average speed level on the open roads had reduced by 1.2 km/h, which typically provided a 3 to 5 per cent improvement in the road toll, Mr Fitzgerald said last month's toll showed it was not enough.

About 150 police officers will be patrolling highways this weekend as motorists head home from holiday.

Mr Fitzgerald said that because the weather forecast over the country was mixed, motorists should drive for the road conditions and take particular care on rural roads designed for speeds of less than 100 km/h.

He said police were to look at ways to take more demerit points off law-breaking drivers in response to the high number of holiday deaths.

They were considering including far more traffic offences in the demerit system.

"We're probably killing 50 more people on the roads than we need to.

"Demerit points are taken only for offences like speed, and failing to stop at traffic lights and stop signs.

"But there are none for things like crossing a yellow line and cutting corners.

"That's ridiculous," he said.

Police needed to keep up the pressure on bad driver behaviour.

"Speed is a hard habit to break, because people actually enjoy driving at speed.

"That change will only happen on the back of enforcement."

Police would discuss options of driver penalties with the Land Transport Safety Authority and the Ministry of Transport.

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