Challenge to change driving habits
South Canterbury’s rural communities have been challenged to change their driving behaviour in the face of new statistics suggesting many safety messages - especially around seatbelts and cellphones- are not getting through.
It has emerged that thousands of the region’s drivers over the past year failed to perform some of the most basic safety measures when behind the wheel - and they were fined for their potentially deadly lapses.
Police issued 1138 fines to people who were not wearing seatbelts when their vehicles were pulled over by police in the MidSouth Canterbury policing area in 2016.
That was 22 per cent fewer than in 2009, but police and road safety advocates say it is still not good enough.
Police Mid-South Canterbury area commander Inspector Dave Gaskin acknowledged the downward trend but said it remained ‘‘still a terrible figure’’.
There were a total of 12,805 tickets issued to people for not wearing a seatbelt between January 2009 and December 2016.
‘‘That’s still 12,805 people stupid enough to get in their vehicles without [a seatbelt] on.’’
People pulled over in Timaru were ‘‘generally better’’ with seatbelt compliance but those in South Canterbury’s rural communities ‘‘don’t do so well.’’
There was need for a cultural change, and a change in attitudes, to tackle the problem and to further reduced offending, he said.
South Canterbury Automobile Association (AA) district chairman Roger Carter noted 100 of the 328 fatal crashes in New Zealand over the same period had, as victims, people who were not wearing seatbelts.
There was a strong link between seat belt offences, drink driving and driving while under the influence of drugs, he said.
‘‘It is a no brainer, I can’t fathom it, were at a loss, how do we educate people?’’
He said the seatbelt issue was ‘‘interlocked’’ with drink driving and driving under the influence of drugs.
Often it was people who weren’t wearing a seatbelt who had ‘‘gone to the pub for a couple of beers’’, he said.
He said the AA would be strongly pushing for the Government ’’to do something’’ this year, especially in the midst of election year.
‘‘This is just not a issue that is going away, and we need to suss out why.’’
Drink driving offences fell by 29 per cent, from 525 in 2009 to 372 in 2016.
Gaskin said while the decrease was pleasing, there were still a ‘‘high number’’ of offences police were dealing with.
A recent case included one person who was pulled over by police twice in one night for driving whilst intoxicated.
As for the drug driving offences, ‘‘that doesn’t surprise me’’, Gaskin said. There were three offences for driving while under the influence of drugs in 2009. That rose to 11 in 2016.
Gaskin said officers had continually seen an increase in those types of offences, and had to adapt to administering more compulsory impairment tests.
South Canterbury Road Safety co-ordinator Daniel Naude said it was hard to figure out how to com- bat the issues.
He said there was a need for a whole social shift, especially within rural communities. ‘‘There is a common she’ll be right attitude.’’
He said driving was not a ‘‘relaxing exercise’’. People needed to be managing their behaviours better and have more responsibility when driving, he said.
‘‘We shouldn’t have to have police always looking after people.
‘‘Unfortunately there will always those people who don’t get this.’’
While some offending had declined in recent years, the number of people caught using their cellphones while driving had increased.
When statistics on the offence first started being recorded in 2010, there were 210 fines issued.
That rose to 535 in 2016, an increase of 154 per cent. Gaskin said there may need to be more enforcement to reduce offending.
He said people were seen as ‘‘abnormal’’ if they were not with their cellphone.
‘‘Cellphones really, really bugs me, it does accidents.’’
As for speeding, the number of offences recorded through speed camera fines rose by 97 per cent. The number of speeding fines issued by police officers fell by 17 per cent. contribute to