Toll bad, but has been worse

WELLINGTON: Seatbelts and motorcycle helmets were optional and the bloodalcohol limit was higher — that was Easter 1971, when 21 people died on the country’s roads.

Fastforward to Easter this year, when six people died in road crashes. Seatbelts and helmets have long been compulsory and alcohol limits have been progressively lowered.

The Easter road toll this year was three times as many as last year and was the highest since 2010, when 12 people died.

Over the decades the number of vehicles on our roads has grown enormously — about

4.2 million now, compared with about 1.2 million in 1971.

In 2013, the annual road toll dropped to its lowest level this century — 253 deaths — but has since bounced back, to 379 last year.

By yesterday afternoon, the yeartodate toll stood at 108, after the death of one person in a twocar crash at Wellsford which blocked State Highway 1.

At the corresponding time last year, 94 people had died.

The six Easter weekend fatalities were a motorcyclist whose bike collided with a truck in Rotorua on Saturday; Hamilton children Arteen Mosaferi (4) and Radeen Mosaferi (2 months), who died after a crash between two cars and two truckandtrailer units near Waiouru on Friday; a driver and a passenger who died after a twocar collision near Kerikeri on Monday; and Denise Tito, of Taupo, killed in a crash north of the town on Friday.

Authorities have appealed for everyone to wear a seatbelt and for drivers to watch their speed, focus on driving, stop and rest if tired, and not to drink.

Our highest annual road toll was in 1973 when 843 people died — more than double the tally last year, when the population was far higher.

The percapita road toll was more than four times higher in 1973 than in 2011.

What has changed?

The maximum speed limit was raised from 50mph to 55mph (80kmh to 89kmh) in 1963, and in 1969 to 60mph (97kmh) on some motorways. Now it is 100kmh and in two places 110kmh.

Seatbelts were required in the front seats of new cars from 1965, but wearing them was not mandatory until 1975.

From 1979 they were required to be fitted in the back, too, and had to be buckled up from 1989.

Safety seats for children became common by the late 1970s, but were not made mandatory — for children under 5 — until 1994.

Children now must be secured in an approved child restraint at least until they turn 7, and there is official encouragement to continue using one until a child grows to 1.48m tall or turns 11.

The New Zealand Automobile Association, delving into its files, found several articles about seatbelts, including, in a 1971 story headed, ‘‘Can drivers be compelled to wear safety belts?’’ and one the following year, ‘‘If you’d only worn your safety belt’’.

AA policy research manager Peter King said noone would have realised the following year, 1973 would be the worst year for road deaths.

‘‘They were conscious of safety and the need to act but it was a very different time.’’

The first breathalyser was introduced in 1969, according to the Ministry of Transport, which notes that in the first year of operation 2928 drivers were tested, of whom only 214 were ‘‘sober enough to drive’’.

Car safety has improved radically since the 1970s, with the introduction of airbags, antilock braking systems and, in newer models, the increasing use of cameras and other monitoring devices to help prevent crashes and keep vehicles safe. — NZME