Dec. Road Deaths Analysed

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31586, 25 January 1968, Page 1

Dec. Road Deaths Analysed

(N Z Press Association) WELLINGTON, Jan. 24. Consumption o f liquor, failure to check worn brakes and tyres, and having vehicles on the roads without lights during darkness were the major causes of the 50 road deaths in New Zealand last December. According to a monthly summary by the Transport Department given to the Minister of Transport (Mr

Gordon) today, of the 50 people killed, 23 were drivers and 19 were between the ages of 15 and 25 years. During the month there were three multiple-death accidents, in which a total of six people died. Accidents in which liquor is believed to have played a part included one when a young man died after the car he was driving left the road. He died with an open bottle of beer held between his knees. A 20-year-old man was killed when the car he was driving went over a bank. It is believed he had visited two hotels during the day and that he was either intoxicated or fatigued. In another case in which a

youth died after losing control of the car he was driving, liquor was involved. A 22-year-old passenger was killed when the car in which he was travelling struck a telegraph pole at high speed. The driver, who was grossly intoxicated, failed to take a bend. Both rear tyres of the car were bald, with damaged cord exposed on one. Worn tyres played a part in another fatal accident when a youth died after his car failed to negotiate a bend at high speed. , Bicycle brakes failing at an intersection resulted in the death of a 17-year-old cyclist: a six-year-old girl died when the bicycle she was riding without lights swerved in front of a ear. There was very

poor street lighting in the vicinity at the time. A middle-aged woman was killed as she stood beside the driver’s window of a car parked on the roadway. The car had no lights and she was struck by an overtaking car travelling in the opposite direction.