Despite police perceived improvements in driver behaviour in the Western Bay of Plenty in 2010, the region's road toll for the year increased from that in 2009.
SunLive photographs of the scenes from three of the 13 fatal road fatalities in the Western Bay of Plenty during 2010.
There were 13 deaths on Western Bay roads in 2010 compared with 10 in 2009.
While up on 2009, the region's officer in charge of road policing, Acting Senior Sergeant Mark Holmes, is quick to point out that this amount is still less than in other recent years.
'I know people will think 13 was a high number, but we need to put it in perspective and look at all the hard work that's been done in relation to road deaths in the Western Bay.
'We've seen a big change in driver behaviour, but sometimes whether you survive a road crash comes down to sheer luck,” says Mark.
Between 2000 and 2004, the average road toll every year in the region was 20.
In the subsequent seven years, between 2004 and 2010, the average number of fatalities dropped to about 11.
Mark believes driving behaviour in the Western Bay of Plenty improved in 2010.
'Generally we have seen an improvement in driver standards.
'Over the winter period we had a major focus on driver behaviour on State Highway 29 and we had quite a big reduction in crash over that period.”
Mark believes the number of winter crashes along the notorious SH29 reduced by 80 per cent, compared to the same period in 2009.
Five of the 13 road deaths in 2010 were in the Te Puke area.
2 comments
I have no clue as to the answers.......
Posted on 09-01-2011 12:38 | By Tony
But i feel we need to keep things in persective. We give people permission to drive at the young age of 16(?) and allow them to grow , develop all sorts of bad habbits and mental issues , attitudes to both police and society and then we try to stop as many as poss killing either them selves or others I wonder how we would cope if we let everyone over 16 years old carry a loaded gun... and then wonder why some people shot other people Or in a way is that what we are doing ?
Te Puke has the worst drivers
Posted on 10-01-2011 12:36 | By The author of this comment has been removed.
Having moved from Wellington earlier this year, one of the key noticeable differences is how bad the drivers are here, particularly in Te Puke - I have even had a senior Police staff member in complete agreement with this comment. It appears to me to be not so much related to speed, but more to the fact that drivers here appear to feel they are alone on the road and can crawl along at 75km/h on the open highway - the effect being complete frustration to other drivers with consequential dangerous passing manoeuvres, tailgating, etc. Truck drivers appear to be amongst the best drivers, whereas ma and pa farmers are completely annoying and like to take their Sunday drives in morning peak-time traffic. The other factor is the numerous changes of speed around this region. In Wellington, it's pretty much 50km/h or 100km/h - simple. But travelling between Tauranga and Paengaroa, you are constantly battered with speed limit signage - 80km/h, 100km/h, 70km/h, 50km/h, 80km/h for another 100 metres, then back up to 100km/h, then 2kms later back down to 70km/h. You almost need a degree to negotiate the road signage, and if you're not totally awake to it, even generally good drivers will find themselves in the unfortunate position of receiving a speeding ticket.
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