250 drivers flee from police

More than 250 Wanganui drivers have fled from police in the past five years.

Data released to the Wanganui Chronicle under the Official Information Act showed 267 Wanganui drivers were issued "fleeing driver notifications" between July 2009 and June last year.

The number of fleeing drivers peaked at 69 in 2012, according to police records. Last year, 43 Wanganui drivers were issued with fleeing driver notifications.

Whanganui area commander Inspector Steve Mastrovich said it was concerning when any driver fled from police.

"They not only put themselves at risk but also members of the public and police staff," he said.

"The reckless actions of a fleeing driver often have serious or tragic outcomes."

Drivers fled for several reasons, he said. "There are a number of reasons why some drivers make the reckless decision to flee from police and circumstances differ from case to case, however one example could be that the driver is wanted by police for outstanding criminal matters.

"The best decision a driver can make is to pull over safely and stop for police when signalled to."

Police could charge a driver for failing to stop, he said. Additional more serious charges depended on the situation and circumstances, he said.

Nationally, more than 11,000 drivers were caught after fleeing police in the past five financial years.

The amount of drivers caught each year fluctuated between 2195 in 2009 and 2393 last year.

New Zealand Police Association president Greg O'Connor said fleeing drivers were "a major dilemma".

"Those numbers only include drivers that were caught. There's a lot more drivers that have got away who will do it again because they think they can get away with it.

"It's an issue that police forces and governments around the world are grappling with."

Most incidents which ended in an accident happened within 30 or 40 seconds, he said. "The last thing you want is people driving stupidly and dangerously to get away from police and then have them going headfirst into a vehicle."

Mr O'Connor said there was no right answer for dealing with fleeing drivers.

"The question is 'do you have a no-pursuit policy or a very prescriptive one which actually makes roads less safe because you're incentivising drivers to get away from police?'. It's a matter of trying to get some kind of balance. Generally, I think we've got it pretty well right in New Zealand.

"In Queensland, where they've virtually got a no-pursuit policy, there was a death in the weekend and someone who broke their neck from fleeing police."

Some police association members were frustrated by attitudes towards being pulled over police, he said. "There should be more of a focus on changing the behaviour of drivers than on changing the behaviour of police."