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Horror Start to Year; More Than One Person a Day Has Died on Our Roads so Far This Year

Posted on: Wednesday, 1 February 2006, 15:00 CST

By STEERE, Mike

Today, with another holiday weekend looming, The Press, along with the police, emergency teams and the families of crash victims, starts a series looking at the effect crashes have on people's lives and what you can do to keep safe. MIKE STEERE reports.

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Arriving at the scene of serious road smashes is just a part of the job for Westpac rescue helicopter pilot Aaron Regan.

Years of seeing blood, corpses, mangled cars, terrified survivors and wailing relatives has hardened him to the personal side of accidents.

"You see all sorts of things -- amputations, decapitations.

"It's not pretty, and it can be really horrific. But you become a bit hardened to it," he said.

Regan said there were still some accidents that affected him, no matter how hard he tried to shut it out.

"One of the hardest things is seeing kids who have been killed or injured in such a way that their lives are changed for ever. Most of us have kids, so that hits home the hardest," he said.

This is the reality for the families and friends of the 37 people who have died on New Zealand's roads already this year. That is 37 families torn apart, and 37 groups of friends changed for ever.

Last year, 405 people died on our roads.

The national toll is 10 higher than at the same time last year, and Canterbury's toll is more than those of the Wellington, Taranaki and Waikato regions and the rest of the South Island combined.

Canterbury road policing manager Inspector Derek Erasmus said: "It's just a toll of figures, but each one of those is a preventable tragedy. It's a huge amount of trauma in society.

"Society seems to expect and accept the road toll. It should be unacceptable.

"Four hundred and five people last year -- that's a massive number of people."

Injury crashes were up 25 per cent on the three-year average and were an even bigger worry than fatalities, he said.

"For each of those deaths there are about 10 serious injuries -- people who can no longer walk or talk."

Erasmus said it had been a bad start to the year, and trends from the past three years were cause for more concern.

"Historically, in February, March and April, the death rate has gone up significantly," he said.

He said Waitangi weekend was another time of concern for police.

"Holiday weekends are periods of concern mainly because we have much greater volumes of traffic."

Motorists headed out with big loads on long drives, and often with few breaks.

On the open road, speed limits were higher, and less experienced drivers sometimes made errors of judgment, he said.

Figures from Land Transport New Zealand show 78% of fatal accidents in 2005 occurred on rural (more than 80kmh) roads.

After a horror start to 2006, police and transport safety officials met a fortnight ago to formulate a plan to stem the alarming number of deaths.

But despite this, the police presence on the roads, and calls from University of Canterbury lecturer Glen Koorey to improve the engineering of many roads, it was the driver who would be on the road this weekend, staring possible death in the face for several hours or more, Erasmus said.

Although a "pat on the back" had been recommended for last year's low toll, Erasmus hoped drivers recognised areas where they could be in danger, especially at times like this weekend.

Some issues included speed, seatbelts, intersections, fatigue, alcohol, overtaking and bad weather.

This week, The Press will take readers through the major safety issues for drivers on the roads this weekend, offering tips on how you can arrive safely at your destination, and showing the devastating effect road deaths have had on some South Island families.

* Tomorrow: alcohol and fatigue- related accidents.

Have your say about New Zealand roads and road safety -- www. press.co.nz

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Source: Press, The; Christchurch, New Zealand

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