Christchurch Had Heavy Road Toll

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30953, 8 January 1966, Page 12

Christchurch Had Heavy Road Toll

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, January 7. Auckland and Christchurch had more fatal road accidents in 1965 than other main cities in New Zealand, the Transport Department said today. Both had 18 deaths.

In each case, the number of fatalities was higher than the previous year. In 1964 Auckland had 16 deaths and Christchurch 14. Third on the 1965 list was Wellington with 14—two more than the previous year. Dunedin was next with seven, three fewer than in 1964.

Invercargill also had seven deaths. One smaller centre, Wanganui, was high on the list. With one accident between a car and a train which caused the death of two middle-aged women and an 11-year-old girl, the final figure was nine deaths from seven accidents. This was a startling increase on 1964, when Wanganui had only one death. Road deaths in other cities, with the 1964 totals in parentheses, were:—Lower Hutt 5 (6), Palmerston North 4 (5), Hamilton 6 (3), New Plymouth 4 (3), Timaru 1 (4), Napier 1 (0), Gisborne 2 (2), Hastings 5 (3), Nelson 5 (4), Takapuna 3 (3), Rotorua 4 (5), Tauranga 3 (1).

The total for the 18 cities was 116 dead from 112 accidents, compared with 94 from 92 acidents in 1964. Deaths in the cities numbered about 20 per cent of the national total of 560. Many accidents took place in county areas and it will be some time before a detailed analysis of these is available. The Transport Department’s head office is still receiving aceident reports from October.