Road death toll starts to rise

Press, 8 March 1984, Page 12

Road death toll starts to rise

PA Auckland The road toll is creeping up as motorists forget Christmas road-safety publicity, says the Ministry of Transport. In the first weeks of 1984 the toll was about 10 deaths lower than for the same period in previous years.

In the last 10 days it has accelerated to 102 killed — almost matching last year’s figure of 103. Some of those deaths could have been prevented if drivers and passengers had been wearing seat belts, a Ministry of Transport official said.

The Ministry’s chief traffic superintendent, Mr lan Coddington, said people were not using seat belts. The low January toll was probably a result of the checkpoint blitzes. Motorists might now be lapsing into old habits and making the same mistakes, he said.

“It may well be there is some sort of complacency. Drivers may feel the pressure is off for the time being,” Mr Coddington said. That was not necessarily the answer. It was not unusual for road toll figures to fluctuate, for no apparent

reason. The Ministry also sees a need for better education about seat belts and will run a publicity and enforcement blitz later in the year. It was horrified to find that of the first 11 road deaths this year, about half the victims might have been saved if people had worn seat belts.

“It is a sad commentary that we have to enforce this to save people’s lives. Simply doing up the seat belt is one of the easiest ways of protecting yourself,” Mr Coddington said.