The Press TUESDAY, JANUARY 6. 1976. Holiday accidents

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34043, 6 January 1976, Page 12

The Press TUESDAY, JANUARY 6. 1976. Holiday accidents

This week sees the return of many New Zealanders to their homes after holidays. Thousands of people have spent their time driving on the country's roads and swimming or boating on the country’s lakes and rivers or along the country's coasts. Such holiday activities aiwajs expose people to a greater risk of a> cidents than they face m familiar surroundings. The road toll over the Christmas and New Year renod is well down compared to the toll in the same period last year, just as fatalities for the whole of 1975 were fewer than in 1974. Indeed, the road toll has fallen in two years from more than 800 to fewer than 650 and it is tempting to conclude that New Zealand drivers are taking much more care than they used to But the road toll may be falling as much because people are driving less as because they are driving more carefully. Even if they are driving more carefully—and no-one should want to discredit an improved performance—the continuing toil of 621 for the whole of 1975 and 23 for the holiday period, is not something the country can afford to be complacent about.

People may well be drivmg a little more carefully than they used to. but there is no evidence that they are taking any more care in and about water. The number of drownings so far this summer has been frightening, and the two worst months for water accidents have yet to come Too many people seem to be failing to take elementarv precautions—to swim only where members of life-saving clubs can come quickly to the aid of those in difficulty, to wear lifejackets at all times in boats, and to take other sensible precautions. These must include not venturing out in the face of bad weather and rough water for which many pleasure boats are not designed. They must include watching young

children closely whenever they are near water

January is, generally, a particularly bad month for beach swimmers. To oblige people to swim only where they can be watched by life-savers cuts across the gram of freedoms that New Zealanders enjoy. But these freedoms must be earned by individual are and attention to elementary rules of safety whether on the beaches or the roads. Individual carelessness is the mam cause of accidents and those inclined to treat holiday safety lightly should reflect for a moment on what it would mean to have their hohdavs cut short by tragedy, as the holidays of many already have been.