Hot days, slow trips form cocktail of risk on roads
Police were hoping Waikato’s toll would stay at zero as the final hours of the holiday road toll period ticked by.
However, a peak period of traffic and long, hot trips were expected last night as people headed home in time for work. The holiday road toll period goes from 4pm on Christmas Eve until 6am today.
‘‘We’ve had no fatalities in our district over the holiday period, which is a fantastic result so far,’’ Waikato road policing manager Inspector Jeff Penno told Stuff yesterday afternoon.
‘‘It would be really great if we didn’t have anyone killed this year but, sadly, I don’t think that’ll be the case.’’
Road policing staff had been kept busy with serious crashes every day, Penno said. They included a pedestrian struck by a car in Gordonton on December 27, a collision between a motorbike and car in Kuaotunu on December 29, another involving a pedestrian and a car in Hikuai on New Year’s Day, and a motorcyclist’s collision with a power pole in Okauia yesterday.
Penno understood some people involved in these crashes were still in critical condition and on life support.
‘‘Our thoughts are with their families as these people start their very long and slow road to recovery.’’
Over the holidays, police also dealt with speeding drivers – many on
Christmas Day – drunk drivers reported by other concerned motorists and found to be well over the limit, and people breaching learner or restricted licences.
People stopped by officers generally appreciated that police were trying to save lives, Penno said.
‘‘You are always going to get a certain percentage of people who believe their driving is totally superior to everyone else’s and they should be able to do what they want.’’
Heavy traffic was expected last night, as people heading back from holiday filled the roads.
Anyone on the roads – especially around the Coromandel Peninsula – should plan for their trip to take twice as long, Penno said. ‘‘Don’t try and pass the car in front of you because there will be another 100 in front of that.’’
Equally, people towing or driving larger or slower vehicles were legally obliged to pull over if they were impeding traffic, Penno said.
Police are aiming for a quick response to driving complaints, including about slow drivers. ‘‘They want to travel at 60kmh the whole way home, which is fine . . . but others don’t.’’
On the high speed side, the police focus was on those driving between 100 and 110kmh, Penno said, because road deaths were not all about extreme behaviour or boy racers.
‘‘If I look back through this year’s fatalities, it is normal people who drive a little bit too fast a little bit too often that have made a mistake.’’
Summer could present a cocktail of risk with fatigue, residual alcohol in the system, hot days and slow trips, Penno said.
And while summer traffic had been ‘‘as bad as predicted’’, police were noticing the benefit of some improvements to the road network.
There were no 10 to 12-kilometre traffic jams around Huntly now the Huntly section of the Waikato Expressway bypassed the town, Penno said.
A less recent improvement – the revamped Kopu Bridge at the base of the Coromandel Peninsula – had been a lifesaver, he said.