Mr Burbery's comments come after the 2014 year closed with the road toll at 297, 44 up on the previous year. Alarmingly the number of pedestrians killed rose from 30 in 2013 to 43 last year.
Forty-seven of those deaths occurred in the Central District area, which runs from Taranaki down to Waikanae and to the summit of the Desert Rd area. That number included nine pedestrians which he said was "a huge number for our district and a real concern".
But Mr Burbery said it heightened the need for all road users to be aware. Those pedestrian numbers included walkers, runners and normal pedestrians.
"In an ideal world, you'd have an area for cars only and an area for pedestrians and cyclists, but our roads carry a whole raft of machines and people using that shared space. Often there's not a lot of space separating those different road users.
"But what we want to impress upon people is that 47 fatalities is 47 too many. That's 47 groups of family and friends that won't be able to celebrate anything for those people ever. This is not just a number, this is about people and one death is one too many," he said.
Mr Burbery said even with the lower alcohol levels now in force, drivers were still getting caught.
"There's a group of people who are blowing two or three times the previous limit. In the last two days, my staff picked up two people who blew over the 900 (milligrams of alcohol per litre of breath) level and that was at 3pm. These people are driving around and they're risking the safety of everyone else on the road."
He said while there was more awareness around the new rules, ongoing reminders about the limits would be required.
"This isn't going to switch off after summer when the advertising stops. It's here to stay," he said.
"We just hope people appreciate their role in road safety and that we see a reduction in crashes involving injuries or deaths on our roads. Ultimately what happens on the road is invariably decided by the people at the wheel," Mr Burbery said.
The 2014 road toll also showed up a big jump in the number of passengers being killed.
Glenda Leitao, Roadsafe coordinator for Wanganui-Rangitikei, told the Chronicle there were still too many passengers neglecting to buckle up when they got into a vehicle.
"We still see cars where the driver has their belt on but not the passengers," she said.
"Sometimes people think because they're only travelling a short distance they don't need to worry. But it's more often those short trips where the accidents happen," Ms Leitao said.
And she said pedestrians and runners need to be more aware of traffic around them too.
"You'll often see people out running on the roadside and they'll be wearing ear plugs. But with those in, they can't hear traffic coming behind them."
She said educating children at schools would continue to be a big part of road safety education across the region this coming year.
"We're very lucky having two police education officers working in Wanganui," Ms Leitao said.
But she said the message remained the same - encouraging people to be safe whether they're driving, walking, running or cycling on the roads.
"Wanganui's a great place for cycling but we still have those accidents where people are not paying enough attention."