Cops to target highway idiots

Motorists should be prepared to be stopped by police this long weekend as 80 officers will be out patrolling roads and carrying out checkpoints across Northland.

Rosters have been rearranged to ensure a boost in police numbers at critical times this Labour Weekend and police are not making any apologies for targeting idiot drivers.

“There are still some idiots out there that won’t live long and these are the ones we want to apprehend and educate that the roads are for everyone not just them,” Inspector Wayne Ewers said.

“It’s the small percentage that don’t care. We want a crash-free Labour Weekend and see everyone get to their destination safely and not put other road users at risk.”

Ewers is heading the operation which starts at 4pm today to coincide with the expected increase in traffic.

Rosters for the weekend had been rejigged and a team would also be rostered early on Tuesday morning, focusing on State Highway 1 south of Whanga¯rei.

Today the highways in Northland getting extra police attention would be SH1 and SH10 where up to 15 officers would be targeting heavyfooted drivers.

A specialist police vehicle equipped with ANPR — Automatic Number Plate Recognition — technology will be able to indentify immediately high-risk drivers who might be disqualified or forbidden, as well as stolen vehicles or vehicles used in petrol drive-offs.

Those failing to display current registrations or warrants of fitness will also be identified in a split second.

Depending on traffic flow, the ANPR unit is capable of scanning up to 3000 plates in one hour.

The rest of the police contingent would be carrying out a series of checkpoints across Northland checking for seatbelts, cellphone use, drunk driving, and any other bad driving behaviours.

More than a third of Northland’s fatal crashes last year involved people not wearing seatbelts.

A disastrous start to the year with 22 deaths in the first six months had roading officials predicting a road toll of about 60 fatalities for the year.

But a fatality-free July and Septem- ber has held the toll for Northland at 24 so far. There were a total of 41 road fatalities in the region last year.

Ewers said driving behaviour was improving as he believed there was an increased public awareness about crashes and driving.

He said factors that might also have contributed to fewer fatal crashes over the past few months were a relatively mild winter and the dramatic increase in fuel prices.

Ewers urged motorists who spotted dangerous driving or suspected a drunk driver to call *555 or 111 if the driving behaviour was so bad it could cause a death.

Northbound motorists will be able to pull over and take a break a fatigue stop on SH1 at Uretiti today from midday to 4.30pm.