Rise in deaths raises doubts

By SCOTT MacLEOD

Eighty people died in road smashes during January and February - 18 more than at the same time last year.

The provisional toll for February was 42.

But safety chiefs say the road toll is still on track to be under 500 for the second year in a row.

International road safety campaigners are gathering in Wellington to discuss ways to cut the death rate.

One of them, NZ Automobile Association Driver Education Foundation chairman Bob Lester, said the extra deaths showed that "higher fines and shock-horror television campaigns" were not working.

But Land Transport Safety Authority spokesman Craig Dowling said it was too early to say if a trend was emerging.

Even at the present rate, the toll was heading for about 485, which would be the second-best year since 1964.

By last Friday, when the toll was 77, police had found speed to be a factor in 19 deaths, fatigue in eight and alcohol in seven.

Twenty-six people died in head-on smashes and 25 in single-vehicle loss-of-control accidents, which are usually caused by speed or tiredness.

Police believe that seven of the 13 people who died without wearing seatbelts would have lived had they buckled up.

LTSA director David Wright said: "It's the same reasons over and over. So many of these deaths have been completely avoidable."

Although just 62 people died in the first two months of last year, 94 had died by the same time in 1998.

Herald Online feature: Cutting the road toll

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