The toll that road deaths take on first responders. Video / NZ Herald
Seventeen people have died on New Zealand's roads in a "horrendous" holiday period that has killed "mums and dads, brothers and sisters", says one of the country's top cops.
The holiday road toll period officially ended at 6am this morning, with the highest number of road fatalities in the Christmas New Year period since the 2016/17 season, when 19 people lost their lives.
It is also a significant jump on last year's figures, in which 11 fatalities were recorded in the holiday period.
New Zealand Police Assistant Commissioner Bruce O'Brien said it was a tragic and disappointing holiday figure.
"For 17 people to lose their lives is just horrendous … it's an absolutely tragic number," he said.
"But we also have to stop thinking about it as a number, these are human beings – mums, dads, sisters and brothers – that are sitting behind these numbers."
Although the circumstances of the 17 crashes were still under investigation, O'Brien said the same contributing factors routinely showed up in fatal and serious crashes.
"For some people the message is just not getting through and that's about people wearing their seatbelts, excessive speed on some roads that we're still seeing, far too many people still using their cellphones while they're driving.
"And unfortunately alcohol is still a significant contributing factor for death and serious injury crashes."
Police said basic mistakes like not wearing a seatbelt, or being distracted by a cellphone, were often to blame. Photo / File
O'Brien also highlighted the impact of fatigue on this year's high death toll, and said a long year of Covid lockdowns could have contributed to this.
"It's been a really long year with Covid so people are really fatigued, so I think fatigue could be playing a part – that people are really tired and probably travelling around the country, they might be driving on unfamiliar roads.
"But we do see unfortunately all through the year these same factors playing a part in these really preventable incidents."
Two people were killed on the roads on the final day of the holiday road toll reporting period, which began at 4pm on Christmas Eve.
A person died after a car downed powerlines and caught fire in Waikato yesterday afternoon, and earlier that day there was a fatal crash in the Nelson Lakes National Park in Tasman.
A 13-year-old girl also died yesterday in Waikato Hospital, a week after a horror crash that put five children in hospital.
Road safety campaigner Clive Matthew-Wilson said the Government had "wasted millions" on false assumptions that crashes were caused by the average driver.
"The police and the Government have made the classic mistake of targeting the average driver instead of the high-risk groups.
"How many accidents this summer have been caused by mum and dad driving away with the kids?
"The vast majority of deaths over Christmas involved reckless behaviour. Road crashes involving reckless behaviour are rarely caused by the average driver."
He said investments like speed cameras did little to reduce fatalities, with 85 per cent of the road toll occurring below the speed limit.
Matthew-Wilson said there were a number of ways the road toll could be reduced such as moving freight from large trucks onto rail and re-targeting enforcement from high-risk groups in cellphone use and seatbelt wearing.
There have been 17 people killed on New Zealand roads this holiday period. Photo / File
O'Brien disagreed that most crashes were caused by high-risk drivers, saying serious crashes happened all over the country to all groups of people.
"A lot of the people that are dying on our roads are just mums and dads, brothers and sisters.
"They don't discriminate – it can be a member of the public just going about their business and suddenly makes a poor decision.
"There's still a lot of people out there that see it on the news, or they read it in the paper and think 'it's not going to happen to me'.
"But it can happen, and it can happen in a matter of seconds, a moment of inattention when you pick up your cellphone to answer it, or make a bad decision about overtaking on an unfamiliar road."
O'Brien said the road toll had an immeasurable impact on New Zealand last year.
"We've lost 320 people on our roads in 2021 – that's a significant loss of life and the impact on family, friends and community is untold. We can't even measure the impact."
Although the holiday period had officially ended, O'Brien urged motorists to drive safely while Kiwis continued to move around the country this Summer.
"People just have to be extremely vigilant and every time people get behind the wheel of a car they should be thinking about their safety, their passengers' safety and other road users' safety.
"Take your time, be patient and courteous and if your journey takes an extra 30 minutes, that's a small price to pay to arrive safely."
A number of road safety measures were being looked into as part of the Road to Zero safety strategy, including road design, speed limits and vehicle safety.
"But ultimately it comes down to a driver, who is going to make a decision about what they're going to do while they're driving a vehicle," O'Brien said.
"I encourage people to start having that conversation with their family … making road safety a part of our conversation."
