Holiday travellers keeping safer by following rules

Friends placed flowers in memory of the mother of three. Photo / Brett Meads

By Sunday afternoon on last Queen's Birthday Weekend, nine people had died on the roads.

The death of 28-year-old mother Aroha Ormsby in Tokomaru Bay, north of Gisborne, early yesterday was the first for the 2010 holiday.

National road policing manager Superintendent Paula Rose said drivers were abiding by the rules this year - heralding a significant reduction in crashes.

"At 4 o'clock this afternoon - the holiday period starts at 4pm Friday - we had only attended or been called to 213 crashes," she said. "Last year we'd been called to 271 for the same period".

Ms Rose said "the wonderful thing" was that drivers appeared to have slowed down across the board.

"When you go out on the network, and I've been out in a few parts of the country in the last few days, what we have found is that the travel has certainly reduced in speed with people travelling along at the same speed, reducing the need to overtake and those sorts of things, which is great."

She said police had taken a purposely visible, overt approach to the long weekend - including advertising the reduced buffer of 5km/h above the legal speed limit in advance and increasing random breath-testing.

Counties-Manukau road policing manager Inspector Heather Wells agreed "everybody [was] behaving".

But she warned the trip home today would be the test.

Ms Wells urged motorists to allow extra time for travelling and to take care on the roads.

"It's better to arrive alive than end up in hospital or dead."

Waitemata road policing manager Superintendent John Kelly said drivers were coping well in his district.


Travelling home today:

* Allow extra time.

* Drive to the conditions.

* Roads probably wet so extend following distance.

* Drive with headlights on.

* Be tolerant, expect delays.

* Don't pull out to overtake.

* If going a long distance share the driving.

* Take breaks if tired and bring nourishment.