Road-safety week disappoints

Press, 18 August 1984, Page 9

Road-safety week disappoints

The road safety awareness week that finished in Christchurch yesterday failed to produce the results the organisers had hoped for. The promotion, organised by the Christchurch Metropolitan Road Safety Association, was intended to result in an accident-free day yesterday. However, in the 21-hour period until 9 p.m. there had already been six accidents involving injury and seven non-injury accidents reported to the Ministry of Transport. The chairman of the association, Mr Harry Daniel, said that the promotion had provided a talking point for drivers and pedestrians but it was “all to no avail.” He was disappointed that it had not produced the results expected. Although the number of road acci-

dents reported at the beginning of the week was down on last year’s figures, the numbers for the rest of the week had “gone haywire” and were higher than last year. In the first six days of the week there were 50 reported accidents in Christchurch, one more than in the same period last year. Mr Daniel said the association hoped that the long-term effects on the public would be more positive. With displays in malls, libraries, and Cathedral Square it had reached a wide range of people and at least some had been influenced by what they had seen. For instance, demonstrations highlighting the dangers of not wearing a seat belt bad encouraged some children who did not like wearing a belt to use one, Mr Daniel said.