Five killed in three crashes
Police have been called out to three separate, fatal car crashes in less than one day, bringing the national road toll even closer to surpassing last year’s total.
The deaths, which all happened within a 17-hour period, highlighted the implications of poor driver choices and a ‘‘she’ll be right’’ mentality, a two-time crash survivor says.
The first crash, in suburban Christchurch about 6.30pm on Tuesday, left one dead and three others hospitalised.
Two cars collided in Linwood, killing a woman and leaving one person with critical injuries, another with serious injuries and another with moderate injuries.
One car hit another, which was crossing Worcester St and heading south along Tancred St, side-on, a neighbour said.
The area’s speed limit is 50kmh, but witnesses suggested speed was a factor.
Then, just after 7am on yesterday, police were called out in Dunedin.
A 37-year-old man was killed when he crashed his car into a power pole.
Just over three hours later, at 11.15am, emergency services were called to another crash – this time on State Highway 1 near Oakleigh in Northland.
Three people died and two others were hospitalised. The crash, on a notoriously dangerous piece of road, involved a light truck and three cars.
The deaths bring the national road toll for 2017 to 313 and come less than a month after police described New Zealand’s roads as ‘‘battle zones’’.
Last year, 328 people were killed in road crashes, while 319 died in 2015.
Early in October, this year’s toll hit 293, and police predicted there would be another 60 deaths on the nation’s roads before the end of the year.
Road policing national manager Superintendent Steve Greally said: ‘‘If we can get under 350 this year, I would take that as some sort of victory.
‘‘Although it is a gutting one because one death is too many.’’
In the three weeks since that warning, 20 more people have died.
Christchurch crash survivor Sarah Dean said ‘‘wrong splitsecond decisions’’ on the road made for life-changing traumatic events.
‘‘People don’t understand the implications of a road crash. Even for the survivors of serious accidents it takes a long time to recover.
‘‘It ultimately comes down to driver choices and driver behaviour . . . people often have this mentality that ‘it won’t ever happen to me’.’’
After surviving two crashes in less than a year, Dean struggled to find organisations that helped with the trauma of crashes, so established the inaugural Road Accident Remembrance Day in Christchurch.
The second annual event, to be held on Saturday, will remember the three teenage victims of a fatal Boxing Day crash near Leeston and commemorate the first responders at the scene.