Drivers urged to slow down or face consequences

17 April 2009

A new road safety campaign developed by North Shore City Council in partnership with ACC Injury Prevention kicks off next week to support an upcoming citywide speed enforcement operation by North Shore City police.

Roadside billboards will be erected near six high risk accident areas and feature imagery of an ambulance crew, a policeman holding a speed gun and a vulnerable child on a road near a school.

The billboards communicate relevant road safety messages to drivers before they approach each individual problem area with photographs taken at each of the actual sites.

The overall message aims to motivate drivers is to check their speed and slow down and avoid a real life encounter with these people.

As well as billboards, the message to ‘slow down’ will be reinforced through a radio campaign on North Shore based Big FM.

North Shore City police say that speeding in residential areas is the most common complaint received from community members and it’s important that they respond to those concerns.

Jamie Adkins, road safety co-ordinator at North Shore City Council says much has been done to slow drivers down but there are unfortunately still too many drivers taking risks with speed.

“The faster you drive - the longer it takes to stop and the more mess there is likely to be.

“This is relevant to all drivers, no matter how good a driver you may think you are,” says Mr Adkins.

Katrina van der Wende, injury prevention consultant at ACC says over the past five years on the Shore driving too fast was a factor in 499 crashes that resulted in 370 people injured and six killed.

“The majority of those accidents were the result of drivers going too fast for the conditions and losing control of their vehicles.

“Drivers must be more cautious – they must constantly assess and reassess the road conditions and adjust their speed according to those conditions,” says Miss van der Wende.

For more information about reducing your risk of being involved in a speed related road crash, visit www.northshorecity.govt.nz, keyword search ‘speed’.

(ends)

© Scoop Media