Patience needed on Canterbury roads

Canterbury Police are urging drivers to be patient over the Christmas and New Year Holiday Period.

Senior Sergeant Phil Newton says that with the increase in holiday traffic including cars towing trailers, boats and caravans, patience will be needed.

"To ensure a safe journey, make sure that if you decide to overtake a slower vehicle, do it safely, make sure that you have the visibility and length of clear road ahead to make the manoeuvre safely," he says.

"Making your destination safely far outweigh the dangers of trying to shave a couple of minutes off your journey time."

Senior Sergeant Newton says that drivers also should be courteous to others and pull over to let others pass if a queue is developing behind them.

"Drivers towing trailers, boats or caravans have a reduced speed limit of 90kmh and can be difficult to pass.

"They should pull over when it is safe to do so and let other road users pass. If they don't, other drivers can get frustrated and attempt to pass when it is not safe."

Last year there were 19 people killed and 400 injured on New Zealand roads during the same holiday period.

In Canterbury during the last Christmas-New Year period there were four fatal crashes and 37 injury crashes. These resulted in four fatalities, nine serious injuries and 40 minor injuries.

Crash hotspots over the last five Christmas holiday periods (sites with three or more crashes) were:
•       SH7 at Goings Creek Bridge (Hurunui)
•       Intersection of Bealey Ave and Colombo St (ChCh)
•       Intersection of Moorhouse Ave and Madras St/Gasson St (ChCh)

"We do not want to see a repeat of previous years' fatalities and crashes," says Senior Sergeant Newton.

"The holiday should be a time to relax and have quality time with your family. The last thing Police want to do is deliver the news that a loved one has died or been seriously injured as a result of a crash."

Speed and alcohol are still the major causes of crashes and Police will be out in force on Canterbury roads this holiday period aiming to minimise risks by enforcing the reduced speed limit tolerance. All drivers stopped will be breath tested.

The speed tolerance will be reduced to 4kmh from today [Friday 21 December] until 7 January 2013.

Police will also be on the lookout for those not wearing seatbelts in an effort to reduce the risk to road user s if they are unfortunate enough to be involved in a crash.

"Canterbury Police wish everyone a happy and safe Christmas break," says Senior Sergeant Newton.