Bay of Plenty motorists are being warned to 'check your speed” and stay safe on the roads this summer.
Police will once again be enforcing a reduced 4km/h speed threshold throughout the whole of December and January, with a highly visible presence on the nation's roads as part of a targeted road safety campaign.
Photo: File.
Every driver stopped can also expect to be breath tested.
The focus of the campaign is to ensure safer speeds, given that speed not only influences the likelihood of a crash, but also the injury severity and survivability at the time of impact.
National manager of Road Policing Superintendent Stephen Greally says targeting impaired driving will also continue to be a strong focus.
'Police want all families to have a great summer that is memorable for the good times, not a summer ruined by the grief of losing a family member to a fatal crash,” says Stephen.
'It's the loved ones that are left behind that have to carry the pain and devastation a fatal crash causes.”
He says police and emergency response staff understand first-hand the grief and trauma caused by road crashes.
'Seeing the carnage at the roadside is traumatic enough, but the worst part is when we have to knock on the door of a family and tell them a loved one has been killed or seriously injured.”
While the long-term road toll trend is tracking downwards, police admit they're concerned at the current rate of road deaths, which is tracking 22 higher than at the same time last year.
'Sadly, this year's annual road toll is higher than last year's,” reveals Stephen.
'It's important to remember each and every number in the road toll represents a lost life — a parent, child, brother, sister or friend who will be greatly missed.”
Similar to the previous two summer holiday periods, police will be enforcing the reduced 4km/h speed threshold from December 1, to January 31, 2016.
This means anyone caught exceeding the posted speed limit by more than 4km/h can expect to be ticketed.
'The reality is that drivers have a simple choice. Check your speed, keep to the safe posted speed limit, and avoid a ticket – or worse – a potentially life-altering crash.
'Aside from the fact police do not receive a cent in fines, or that it actually costs us money to issue notices, we'd be delighted to never issue another one, as it would show that everyone was driving safely and responsibly, and the trauma on our roads would reduce overnight.”
The previous two summers marked the two lowest-recorded number of deaths for a December/January period since records began.
From December 1, 2014 to January 31, 2015 there were 50 road deaths, compared to 42 road deaths the previous year.
By comparison, the worst December-January road toll recorded in the last 25 years was 124 deaths in 1990.
7 comments
Statistics
Posted on 23-11-2015 11:46 | By mutley
Never trust a Policeman with statistics. The Government collects the fines and the Government fund the Police. It is simply spin to suggest that the revenue is of no interest to the Police. If the holiday death toll continues to rise will the Police accept that the speed policy has failed and that they need to focus on the root cause of crashes instead ?
So now
Posted on 23-11-2015 12:04 | By truck
So now we are going to see the Hiway Patrol cars congregating at the end of passing lanes, on down hill stretches of safe roads and/or long straight stretches of roads where speeds creep to over the now 4kph tolerance. Instead of actually being proactive in getting out there to look for the drivers who are not safe to be on the roads at any speed they will be there looking for the easy way out. It isn't speed that kills - it is the vehicle driver who drives a vehicle at a speed outside their capability - the ones who cannot maintain a speed close to the posted limit, the ones who travel well outside the posted limit, the ones who cannot or will not look out for other users and the likes.
What About All-Year-Round
Posted on 23-11-2015 15:09 | By Road Ranger
"By Truck" has made some very valid points. This campaign needs to be done all-year-round 24 hours a day. Prime examples: new TEL both Expressway and Tollway from early in the morning cars and truck exceeding the posted speed limits (not by a few kms either), same on the Matata Straight, also north of Te Puke township (where reduced speed restriction now in place), also vehicles overtaking on centre median area. would be great if Road Police started earlier to get these law breaker prior to the holiday period, these things don't just happen between 9am - 5pm!! It's everyone's responsibility to be safe on the road....
Gotta love statistics
Posted on 23-11-2015 19:59 | By Tga local
Last year the police had a zero tolerance policy to speed, and the road toll over the holiday period was 17, over double that of the previous year. They did increase the ticketing revenue by $5 million, but stated the move was not a money-making venture. Unfortunately, I agree with truck and the inconsiderate drivers who concentrate on their phones while driving, speeding up when there is an opportunity to be overtaken, and generally doing dumb things on the road will still cause frustration on the roads. They will not be ticketed as it is easier to issue a speeding ticket than pull over the driver with 20 frustrated drivers behind them.
Destiny
Posted on 24-11-2015 04:16 | By Kenworthlogger
The police should go like the destiny church did and have eftpos machines installed in their cars so the customer, sorry the offender can whip out the plastic and tidy it up there and then quite nicely....
seesee
Posted on 24-11-2015 09:34 | By SeeSee
Paying fines are completely voluntary. You speed, you pay. So, stop making stupid excuses and wake up to your selves.
Fast or Slow?
Posted on 24-11-2015 10:44 | By Gigilo
Sorry I am a bit slow, the margin of error for speedometers is generally accepted as being 5 Km's/hr. So in a 100 Km/hr zone the tolerance limit is 104 Km's/hr. So if I now need to drive at 99 Km's/hr to not exceed 104 Km's/hour am I going too fast or two slow? Because maybe I will actually be travelling at 94 Km's per hour and of course where the real doubt comes in is has the speed camera that is monitoring me been properly calibrated. Or do I still have it wrong and are a bit fast in assuming that the no tolerance speed of 104 Km's/hour is actually 109 Km's/hr. In reality it is the people travelling to slow that cause the problems. Example is lovely new freeway and people travel at 80 Km's/hr, see it everyday, are they driving outside the tolerance to ticket?
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