A road safety campaign for the Christmas break will target people not wearing seatbelts, driving too fast for conditions, driving while drunk or tired, and using cellphones.
The "We Want You Here For Christmas" campaign was launched today by Police Minister Stuart Nash and Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter, partly in response to the 2017 road toll of 339 deaths, the highest since 2010, with a month in the year still to go.
Last month Genter held an urgent meeting with police and transport officials to look at ways improve road safety, which she has said is her highest priority in her portfolio.
The focus will be on changing people's behaviour around four main contributors of trauma on our roads: people not wearing seatbelts, going too fast for the conditions, driving drunk, drugged, or tired, and being distracted by things like cellphones.
Police figures show from 2012 to 2015, the number of road deaths from not wearing seatbelts were in the 50s each year, but spiked to 91 deaths in 2015 and 100 deaths last year.