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Despite improving the 2019 toll, the ministry calls it “an absolute tragedy.”
It comes in the same year that cars were off the roads for up to six weeks during the Covid-19 shutdown and the launch of the Government’s Road to Zero Road Safety Strategy to reduce fatalities and serious injuries on our roads in 40 percent over the next decade. .
“We saw too many tragic crashes last year and it is time we agreed that fatalities or serious injuries on our roads are no longer acceptable,” said Safety and Mobility Manager Helen White.
“We know that people are not perfect. Mistakes can be inevitable, fatalities and serious injuries from accidents are not.
The ministry said the deaths on the highway were the result of 294 accidents. In 2019, 352 people died on New Zealand’s roads.
National Highway Traffic Police Director Acting Superintendent Gini Welch said any life lost on our roads was too much.
“There are 320 people whose families could not see the New Year with them. We can do better,” he said.
“It’s incredibly sad and also frustrating. Police work hard every day to help prevent deaths and serious injuries on our roads, but we can’t do it alone.”
White said everyone had a role to play in driving safely on our roads.
“During the holiday period, I urge drivers to make good decisions before getting behind the wheel and while on the road.
“Road to Zero places human well-being at the center of our road transportation planning. It means stopping seeing deaths on our roads as a ‘toll’ that we are willing to pay to travel our roads.”
The New Zealand Transport Agency said the lives lost in road accidents were a stark reminder of the urgent need to significantly improve road safety in New Zealand.
“As we enter 2021, our thoughts go out to the whānau, friends and communities of each of the 320 people who tragically died on the roads of this country during the past 12 months,” said the general manager of safety, health and safety. agency environment, Greg Lazzaro.
“While the number of road deaths in 2020 was lower than in 2019, that’s in the context of a year in which there were very few road trips for several weeks during the Covid-19 shutdown, and from anywhere sight represents a tragedy for this country.
“Deaths and serious injuries on our roads are not inevitable, and we should not accept that serious accidents are just another part of road trips.
“We are all human and we can all make mistakes, but each of us also has the power to make the right decisions that will keep the roads safer for everyone.”
Lazzaro said that in the last 10 years, more than 3,200 people had died in traffic accidents in New Zealand and an estimated 23,000 were seriously injured.
Those were staggering numbers for everyone to take note of.
“There is nothing new in the circumstances of these accident deaths. Many have inattention, speed and alcohol as contributing factors.
Meanwhile, the police urged everyone in New Zealand to make a simple New Year’s resolution to help prevent more deaths on our roads.
“You can do this by putting away your phone, making sure to drive alcohol, drug and fatigue free, wear a seat belt and drive to conditions within speed limits,” Welch said.
The 2020 Christmas / New Years holiday road toll is currently nine, more than double last year’s bleak figure.
The worst annual road toll was recorded in New Zealand in 1973 when 843 people died and the lowest in recent years was 253, in 2013.
