Two dead after bad night on Chch roads

Press, 19 December 1988, Page 1

Two dead after bad night on Chch roads

By

RICHARD CRESSWELL

A spate of accidents, including two fatal, on a fine Saturday night in Christchurch at the week-end, has baffled the Ministry of Transport. Two men were killed in separate accidents early in the evening. They were David Preston, aged 23, of Christchurch. Mr Preston died after his cycle smashed into the rear of a utility at the bottom of the Dyers Pass Road near Governor’s Bay about 5.15 p.m. David Copeland, aged 46, who was also of Christchurch. Mr Copeland died after the stationwaggon in which he was a backseat passenger and another car collided at the intersection of Mairehau and Burwood Roads.

Senior-Sergeant Russell Dellow, of the Ministry of Transport, said the accident was being investigated. There were 12 accidents on Saturday night. Few, if any, of the accidents were related to alcohol and the weather was clear and fine, said Senior-Sergeant Dellow. “It was a particularly bad night but we couldn’t tell why,” he said.

Ministry staff were stretched to the “absolute limit,” by the accidents, he said. The drink-driving campaign will continue. On Saturday there were 30 officers on the road in Christchurch, with another group patrolling rural areas in Canterbury. The Ministry stopped 1000 vehicles in Christchurch in ran-

dom stopping and at checkpoints on Saturday evening, screened 28 drivers, and took five evidential tests.

There will be checkpoints every night this week and extra staff will be called in later in the week to boost patrol staff.

Outer rural areas would also be targeted, Senior-Sergeant Dellow said. -• The Ministry *ould continue to ensure drivers took a more responsible attitude, to drinking. The lack of alcohol as a factor in Saturday’s accidents suggested drivers were being more responsible, he said. Yesterday had been a quiet day and the only problems during the night had been traffic congestion in parts of the city, he said.

Other fatalities, page 9