Winter driving requires watchfulness

Friday, 23 May 2014 - 8:26am

Central

Never take your eyes off the road is the message that Central District Police want to send to road users as winter approaches.

Acting Road Policing Manager Senior Sergeant Kris Burbery says: "Driving requires your full concentration and it should not come second to having a conversation or listening to the radio. Driving in winter also has added risks due to weather conditions and requires extra vigilance as you never know what could be around the corner."

"Your vehicle's roadworthiness also plays an important role in keeping you safe on the road. To be prepared for winter road conditions get your tyres checked for tread depth."

Legally, 1.5mm is the legal minimum tread depth – any less and you won’t pass a Warrant of Fitness inspection. However, grip in wet conditions reduces significantly if tread depth gets below 3mm, so a deeper tread means a safer driver.

To date 20 lives have been tragically lost on roads in the Central District. Of that 20 there have been 2 crashes where 2 people have died in each crash.

"The last thing that the family and friends of these 20 people expected was to get a knock on the door from officers informing them of the loss of their loved one.

"These fatal crashes were avoidable and driver distraction has played a role in the majority of them. I can't reiterate enough that driving requires your full attention.

"Drivers need to know offending on our roads will not be tolerated, if you speed, do not wear your seat belt, drink before driving, use your handheld mobile phone while driving, or drive dangerously, you will be held accountable.

"I make no apologies for officers taking a hard line in enforcing the road rules that are in place to keep us all safe on the roads.

"The message is simple, focus on your driving, don’t be distracted and remember road safety is everyone's responsibility," says Senior Sergeant Kris Burbery.

Download a copy of the 'check your vehicle flyer' via the below link.

http://www.nzta.govt.nz/vehicle/docs/check-your-car-flyer.pdf(link is external)

Planning your journey and traffic updates

If you want to know about potential delays before you hit the state highways visit onthemove.govt.nz or call 0800 4 HIGHWAYS for either the latest highway conditions or to report incidents or hazards on the state highways.

Report a bad driver

You can report dangerous or erratic driving by dialing *555 FREE from your mobile phone.

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