Safe driving summer campaign

3 December 2013

A summer driving campaign aims to ensure people travel safely during the holiday period.

Waipa District Council's road safety co-ordinator Megan Jolly said the campaign was aimed at motorists travelling to and from holiday destinations and would include billboards, media and news.

As well as messages in local towns, there will also be a focus on speed on rural roads with the beginning of a new billboard campaign.

New Zealand Transport Agency statistics show that over the last five years within the Waipa district here have been 15 deaths and 42 serious injuries resulting from 118 speed related injury crashes.

The billboards remind drivers to slow down , to concentrate and to 'expect the unexpected' reflecting the varying conditions that exist on rural roads. Rural roads need to be driven differently than if driving on a motorway, Ms Jolly said.

There are likely to be many more hazards present such as roaming stock, slower farm vehicles, ditches and narrow roads. Motorists need to ask themselves if they will be able to stop safely before an obscured or unexpected hazard.

Sergeant Warren Shaw reiterated the slow down on rural roads' message. He reminded motorists of the summer safe police campaign with the lowering of the 10km/hr tolerance to 4kms/hr.

The road toll is down considerably on last year, let's keep it that way , he said.

Ms Jolly suggested a number of things to keep motorists safe on the roads including:

• Having a mechanical check on your car
• Checking your tyre pressures as both over and under inflated tyres can be dangerous. Further, driving with underinflated tyres will increase petrol consumption.
• Scheduling regular 10 minute breaks on journeys of more than two hours
• Allowing extra time and being flexible in case there are traffic delays
• Avoiding driving when you would normally be sleeping
• As much as possible stay on well-lit main roads and highways
• Carrying a cellphone with you (but don't be tempted to use it while driving)
• Driving to the conditions, including slowing down on rural roads
• If you are towing a boat or trailer, pulling over to let others past
• Making sure everyone is wearing their seatbelts, even pets
• Having someone else drive if you have been drinking alcohol
• Taking a power nap (10- 20 minutes)

These are simple, common sense things to do that don't take a huge amount of effort but they could potentially save lives and that's what this is about, Ms Jolly said.

The campaign will run over the summer months.

Ends

For further information please contact

Megan Jolly

Waipa District Council

Road Safety Co-ordinator

Ph: 021 2989920