Drivers are being urged to take extra care on the roads this King\u2019s Birthday weekend as emergency services focus on the behaviours that continue to cause serious crashes.<\/p>\n
New Zealand Police, Fire and Emergency New Zealand and Hato Hone St John are reminding drivers that everyone has a role to play in keeping roads safe, particularly during the busy holiday period.<\/p>\n
Road policing director, Superintendent Steve Greally, said officers will be highly visible and prepared to take enforcement action where necessary.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegardless of if you\u2019re travelling near or far, we all want everyone to get to their destinations safely over King\u2019s Birthday weekend,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will be taking the necessary enforcement action wherever we see road users endangering their lives and the lives of others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police said their focus remains on the \u201cfatal four\u201d \u2013 restraints, impairment, distraction and speed \u2013 which continue to be the leading contributors to deaths and serious injuries on New Zealand roads.<\/p>\n
Greally said too many lives have already been lost this year because of drivers travelling too fast for the conditions, driving while impaired by alcohol, drugs or fatigue, or becoming distracted behind the wheel.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur officers unapologetically focus on these behaviours in an effort to prevent other families and communities from being torn apart due to a crash that could have been avoided.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fire and Emergency New Zealand is also urging drivers to take care, particularly around crash scenes and when emergency vehicles are responding.<\/p>\n
Deputy national commander Megan Stiffler said motorists should slow down, remain calm and safely pull over when they see flashing lights or hear sirens.<\/p>\n
\u201cAttending motor vehicle crashes is a big part of what we do \u2013 and our firefighters see first-hand the harsh reality of what can happen when things go wrong on our roads,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrive carefully, be patient and always follow the road rules.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hato Hone St John ambulance crews attend more than 17,000 road crashes each year and continue to witness the devastating impact on patients, wh\u0101nau and communities.<\/p>\n
General manager of ambulance operations Stuart Cockburn said preventable factors are often involved, including children not being properly restrained.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis long weekend, we are asking everyone to do the simple things that can save lives: drive to the conditions, be patient, avoid distractions, never drive impaired and make sure every person in the vehicle is properly restrained.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emergency services are encouraging drivers to take responsibility for their actions behind the wheel and look out for others on the road.<\/p>\n
Their message is simple: slow down, drive sober, avoid distractions and buckle up.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Drivers are being urged to take extra care on the roads this King\u2019s Birthday weekend as emergency services…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-451349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}