Policing of speed not given top priority?

Press, 4 February 1982, Page 1

Policing of speed not given top priority?

A Christchurch City councillor said yesterday that 1978 court statistics led him to question whether local Ministry of Transport enforcement of speed limits was being given enough priority. The 1978 Magistrate’s Courts statistics for New Zealand — the latest the council has received — were presented to the works and traffic committee by its chairman, Cr D. C. Close.

They showed that the Invercargill district, with a much smaller population than the Christchurch district, had a higher number of •charges and convictions for drivers who exceeded the speed limit. During 1977, the preceding year, Invercargill had a rate of 39 motor vehicle accident

casualties per 10,000 residents, while Christchurch had 87 casualties per 10,000 residents. “If there is a trend there, do we have to look at the relationship between enforcement and the accident rate?” Cr Close said. The Christchurch district Senior Chief Traffic Officer (Mr E. E. Dunlop), told councillors that it was “not unfair” to say that Invercargill traffic officers concentrated on speeding drivers. “They probably don’t have other problems associated with a large area as we have,” he said. “They also may be trying to balance the books. The Invercargill traffic department is run by the City Council, and it probably likes to show a profit. That may well be the difference in this particular category.” Statistics from throughout the country showed that far fewer women than men were apprehended for exceeding speed limits. “If nothing else does, these figures surely give the lie to the public myth that women are worse drivers,” said Cr Geoff Stone. Statistics also showed that the disparity between driving

offence charges did not pertain to charges for offences involving drink or drugs, or offences involving dangerous, reckless, careless, or inconsiderate driving. In those categories, Christchurch had far more charges and convictions than Invercargill. Referring to women drivers, Cr Morgan Fahey — an accident and emergency medical specialist — said: “There is no question in my mind that women are not only safer drivers, they are less violent drivers. “Quite often, the driving pattern reflects the personality of the driver.” Women drivers’ accidents were largely during the daytime, rarely involved alcohol, and were often minor. “There is a great need to have women, who usually drink less, drive their husbands, particularly at night,” Cr Fahey said. “I think the answer would be for the men to drink less,” said Cr Noala Massey. Christchurch had 19,658 total traffic offence charges during 1978, compared with 12,859 for the Invercargill district. But charges involving

exceeding the speed limit were 3166 for men and 358 for women in Christchurch, compared with 4675 for men and 817 for women in Invercargill. In Wellington and Lower Hutt, there were a total of 4996 charges of exceeding speed limits that year. In Auckland, there were 10,109 speeding charges for men and 2225 for women. Charges for traffic offences involving drink and drugs during 1978 were 1145 for men and 32 for women in the Christchurch district, compared with 593 for men and 7 for women in the Invercargill district. Charges of dangerous, reckless, careless or inconsiderate driving offences were 2576 for men and 495 for women in Christchurch that year, compared with 877 for men and 114 for women in Invercargill. Cr Close said the lack of statistics so far after 1978 illustrated the need for faster information to local bodies. “Unless we can monitor trends reasonably quickly, how can we change things?” he said.