Tough stance on speeding is saving lives say police

By ROSALEEN MACBRAYNE

Bay of Plenty police say they are "being cruel to be kind" - and it is paying dividends.

Strict speed enforcement has cut the region's road toll more than 35 per cent for the past 10 months.

At this time last year, 59 people had died on Bay of Plenty roads, compared with 38 this year.

"That means there are 21 more people walking around, 21 fewer families to deal with the grief, and at least 21 more families who will have a 'whole' Christmas this year," Bay of Plenty road policing manager Inspector Chris Douglas said yesterday.

The biggest impact had been in the Taupo-Tokoroa area, where white crosses were accumulating along State Highway 1. In some places there were five and six crosses within a kilometre.

Twenty-three people died between January and August last year in that area, but there were 14 fatalities for the same period this year.

Mr Douglas said police had set themselves a target of reducing the road toll 20 per cent this year. Since January, police had been enforcing the speed limit rigidly, to within a 10km/h tolerance - "more than enough to deal with variances in speedometers".

Heavily patrolled roads and the use of speed cameras in newly established areas were other strategies used.

Further reading
Feature: Cutting the road toll

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