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Joseph Johnson / Stuff
More than 300 people have died in car accidents this year, despite a record number of deaths in April due to the Covid-19 lockdown (File photo).
International tourists are often blamed for the unfortunate deaths on New Zealand’s roads, but the road toll for 2020 tells a different story.
Despite the fact that there were no international visitors to the country for most of the year, the road toll as of Dec. 21 stands at 320 deaths, a total that the Automobile Association called “sad and disappointing.”
It’s down from 350 fatalities on our roads in 2019, yet the death toll is largely the same as last year once you factor in the month of April, which saw a massive decrease in crashes due to national closure of Covid-19.
Only nine people died on New Zealand’s roads in April, fewer than any other month in the past 55 years.
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“Deaths on the road for the other 11 months of the year have been slightly higher than in 2019, which is a very sad and disappointing result,” said AA Motoring Affairs General Manager Mike Noon.
“When Covid 19 first appeared and shut down the country, it was speculated that it could result in fewer deaths on the roads due to less driving, but this has not ended like that,” he said.
New Zealanders may have been driving more than normal due to an increase in domestic tourism, although AA had no official data to back this up.
Foreign drivers were at fault in just 5 percent of fatal crashes in 2019, meaning the vast majority of dangerous driving offenses are committed by Kiwis.
AA said it would pressure the government to make a number of policy changes in 2021, including improving high-risk highways, changing safety standard requirements and increasing drug and alcohol testing.
Nicole Johnstone
Foreign drivers were at fault for only 5 percent of fatal crashes in 2019 (File photo).
“No one is a perfect driver, and if people are honest, we could all find at least one thing to do better in 2021. For some drivers, that could be ensuring they maintain a greater following distance, for others it could reduce their speed. to the conditions, or it could be not using their phone behind the wheel or not driving when they feel tired, ”Noon said.
The road toll for the Christmas-New Year period is currently nine, which is already equal to the number of people who died during the entire period in the Christmas-New Year 2019/20 holiday period.
