Road toll shows dramatic drop

Press, 7 June 1982, Page 4

Road toll shows dramatic drop

PA Wellington Only four persons have died on New Zealand roads so far this holiday week-end compared with 12 at the corresponding time last year. Fifteen died during the whole of Queen’s Birthday week-end last year. The statistics are taken from 4 p.m. last Friday to 8 a.m. tomorrow. A spokesman for the Ministry of Transport said drivers appeared to be taking more care than usual on the roads, and this was the reason for the low deathrate. "Maybe we have to give the credit to the drivers this time. Maybe they are learning their lesson at last." he said. The dramatic drop in the death toll came as rain and cold southerlies lashed the eastern North Island and Cook Strait, and icy showers hit the east coast of the South Island. The weather also forced the Railways to cancel two ferry crossings of Cook Strait yesterday, although travellers were accommodated in later sailings. However, the rest of New Zealand yesterday recovered from an abysmafstart to the holiday, that saw at least 46 accidents in rain-drenched Auckland in 24 hours. Two persons died in south-

ern motorway crashes on Friday just before the 4 p.m. official start of the holiday. Later on Friday, a pedestrian died in hospital after being hit by a car in Gisborne at 6.50 p.m. He was Alexander James Heppleston. aged 65. A 8 p.m. a young Moerewa woman died in a head-on crash in the Bay of Islands on State highway 1 near the Ruapekapeka turn-off. Two others in the other vehicle were slightly hurt. The dead woman was Margaret Mav Coonev, aged 21. On Saturday afternoon a man died when he lost control of his car on Waipapa : Road near Otorohanga. Further details were not avail- | able last evening. At 10 p.m. on Saturday a Nuhaka woman was killed , when two cars collided at an j intersection on State high- < way 2 in Wairoa. She was j Irelene Rehu Jewel Pomana, ( aged 20, a passenger in one of the vehicles. Three others were in- ' jured and taken to I Wairoa Hospital. I In Christchurch, Ministry * of Transport officers were £ “amazed at the amount of s business" they had to attend during the week-end. consid- d ering the lack of traffic. v Since the start of the holi- a day period at 4 p.m. last v

Friday until last evening officers had attended 18 injury accidents and nine noninjury ones. Breath tests were given to 36 drivers and three others were arrested for drink-re-lated offences. Traffic Sergeant G. J. Hawkins said that traffic out of Christchurch had been heavy on Friday evening, but since then the flow had been light. Mr Hawkins said drivers were still travelling too fast and too close, especially in the murky weather 'that marked the week-end. “Drivers seem to speed up in wet weather rather than slow down." he said. Traffic is expected to be heavy again on the roads into Christchuch this evening. The St John Ambulance said that in general things had been quiet except on Saturday evening, when ambulancemen attended numerous minor accidents. “Things have not been too bad for a long week-end, and for the weather, but we were busy with eight injury accidents (all minor or moderate) on Saturday night," a spokesman said. Last year at Queen’s Birthday week-end two persons were killed in Christchurch, and 10 other injury accidents were reported.