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National | Accident

Road safety message not sinking in

The road deaths have climbed to 19 this year, following a serious car crash just south of Whangarei this morning.

Despite numerous safety warnings put in place by the police including tightening of road rules, the two-week road toll shows the message is still not sinking in.

Road policing national operational manager, Inspector Peter McKennie, "What we communicated was that anyone exceeding the speed limit by more than 4km an hour could expect to get ticketed.  So we applied a strong emphasis on speed and also on drink driving and other behaviours that affect safety on the roads."

Despite police pushing for safety on the roads aiming to lower the road toll, accidents and deaths still occurred.

McKennie says, "There have actually been 19 deaths on the road so far this year, that's in January 2016 which is obviously far too many, we want people to be safe on the roads and there's been far too many lives needlessly lost and a lot of families affected as a result."

The new laws will not be down graded, with anniversary weekends coming up, Waitangi Day holiday and of course, the start of the school year looming.

McKennie adds, "We'll be having a strong focus on road safety throughout the whole year, certainly anyone exceeding the speed limit by more than 4km an hour can still expect to get ticketed right through til the end of January."

These figures were confirmed by Inspector Peter Mckennie as of this morning.