Grim Reaper helps fight road toll

Grim Reaper Sam Dynes fights the road toll - 316 for the year so far - alongside State Highway 5 near Rotorua. Picture / Alan Gibson

Police are making no apologies for a hard-hitting road-safety campaign that uses teenagers dressed as the Grim Reaper beside roads.

The macabre sight of 19-year-old Sam Dynes and a friend posing at accident black spots dressed in hooded robes with mock scythes has had motorists hitting the brakes for the past fortnight.

Although the tactic is sanctioned by the police and the Accident Compensation Corporation, which has been paying in conjunction with broadcaster Radioworks, not everyone has been impressed.

Some motorists said they were distracted; others said the stunt was in bad taste, after one Reaper stood outside the Ngongotaha cemetery. In Invercargill, one Reaper chose a spot outside the home of an elderly person who was unwell.

Senior Sergeant Ed Van Den Broek, of the Rotorua police strategic traffic unit, said the tactic was to hammer home the safety message, even if some found it "creepy".

"I don't like picking up dead bodies off the road," he said.

The campaign message is: "If the police don't catch you for speeding, the Grim Reaper will."