Crashes plummet in lockdown
Road crashes dropped by more than 70 per cent in Nelson Bays during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Drink-driving offences were also noticeably down with less traffic on the roads, but police are disappointed that they have since returned to pre-lockdown levels.
Police figures show, compared to the 132 crashes in April 2019, there were only 37 in April 2020 – a 72 per cent decrease.
While police statistics postApril are not yet available, Tasman Road Policing Manager Senior Sergeant Grant Andrews said the 70 per cent decrease continued through to the end of the level 2 lockdown period.
Andrews said for the most part the nature of the crashes remained the same, albeit in smaller numbers and with fewer serious injuries.
‘‘It was where we would have expected it to be.
‘‘In fact we would have hoped it would have been even less – given you had to have a necessity to be driving, especially during level 4.’’
There were no fatalities on the roads in Nelson Bays during that time.
Andrews said with less traffic about during lockdown, the roads had also been much safer for cyclists and pedestrians.
He said there hadn’t been the number of pedestrian and cyclist injuries they would normally expect to see during that time, despite the fact many more people had been cycling and walking on the roads during lockdown.
‘‘People made the most of it. Obviously it felt a lot safer for people with families, so that was fantastic to see.
‘‘It goes to show if people take some more care, we could significantly reduce those crashes.’’
Andrews said there had also been a noticeable decrease in the amount of drink-driving during lockdown.
He said while there hadn’t been any checkpoint operations, they had conducted breath tests while making sure people had been complying with driving restrictions.
However, with the lifting of lockdown restrictions drinkdriving offences had spiked back to pre-lockdown levels, he said.
‘‘It doesn’t go away – last weekend we picked up about a dozen people over two nights for drinkdriving, which is really disappointing.
‘‘I don’t think it’s any different to what we’d expect at this time of year. We’re certainly out working hard out there on the roads to make sure they’re safe.’’