Responsibility lies in the drivers’ hands

One car was half way up a tree, another was in a ditch and one person had lost their life.

The two-car collision on No 1 Rd near Waitoa last week closed the road for several hours.

A woman in the car that ended up in the ditch was flown to Waikato Hospital in a serious condition.

Darren Carson, who works up the road from where the fatal accident took place, was driving back from the shop just minutes after the crash happened.

‘‘I was in the shop just taking my time getting an ice cream,’’ he said.

‘‘And I’m glad I did take my time.’’

He arrived to find one of the cars almost vertical up the side of a tree.

Carson, and others who witnessed the crash, tried to help the man inside but the man was already dead, Carson said.

Carson understood the two cars involved had both been heading north and had overtaken a third car.

Last Wednesday’s death made it 52 fatalities on Waikato roads since the beginning of the year.

Unfortunately a fatal car accident in Tirau, where a Taupo teenager lost his life, took that figure to 53.

‘‘It’s those momentary lapses of concentration that prove to be fatal. ’’

for Waikato Road Policing officer Senior Sergeant Gill Meadows.

‘‘It’s sad that the first thing I do in the morning is check the news to see if there have been any fatals overnight,’’ Meadows said.

It’s not due to a lack of police officers on the road trying to keep drivers’ behaviour in check, she said.

It’s the drivers themselves not taking responsibility for their own actions.

‘‘Think about it, how many families have been affected?,’’ she said.

‘‘And then there are all the people that have attended the accidents. It’s pretty tragic.’’

Waikato Police and NZTA undertook a joint compliance operation late last week.

And for anyone who suggested the operations were simply a case of police revenue gathering, Meadows had a response.

‘‘We as police make no apologies for ensuring people are abiding by road safety,’’ Meadows said.

‘‘It’s not about revenue gathering. It’s about keeping safe on the roads.

‘‘It’s those momentary lapses of concentration that prove to be fatal.’’