Northland ended 2022 with the highest annual road toll it’s had in 22 years as police, road safety campaigners and health workers alike urge drivers to take care.

Last year 38 people died on Northland
roads, the most since 2000 when there were 46 deaths.

Nationally New Zealand had its highest road toll in four years, with 377 people dying on the country’s roads by the end of 2022.

The last time the road toll was as high was in 2018, with a significant drop seen during the years of Covid-19 lockdowns.

On average, one person is killed every day on New Zealand roads and another seven are seriously injured according to Northland Road Safety, which calls Northland roads “challenging and unforgiving”.

There was also a 40 per cent reduction in the number of breath tests carried out nationwide over the last five years according to data released to the AA under the Official Information Act (OIA).

Northland had the biggest decrease in the testing of 67 per cent which AA Northland District Council chairwoman Tracey Rissetto called “inexcusable.”

“Waka Kotahi have identified that the Far North is one of the highest risk areas for drink and drug driving with Northland as a region being high risk, yet they have dropped our testing by the biggest margin plus we have had recently the biggest population growth,” said Rissetto.

She said she didn’t think the drop could be attributed to Covid restrictions as the decreases are from 2014/15 to 2021.

“Police HQ and Waka Kotahi need to explain why Northland is not getting the resources,

“Drivers fund the police for traffic enforcement, we need to see more breath testing and patrol cars on the road, and don’t rely on speed cameras to change behaviour,” said Rissetto.

The Government’s Road to Zero safety strategy and action plan had a target of reducing road deaths by 40 per cent by 2023.

Meanwhile, 40 per cent of Northland road fatalities last year were people not wearing restraints Rissetto said, “the momentum from the buckle-up campaigns has disappeared.”

Northland Police Senior Sergeant Haydn Korach said Covid impacted resourcing for breath testing and that the police have been targeting some more of our rural areas.

“We’re going up to the likes of Kaitaia… and all of that takes travel time and all that slower traffic flows, but they carry a higher risk for us as well.

“I’m sure over the next year, you’ll definitely see there’ll be a large increase in the number of breath tests that are completed,” Korach said.

Korach said that drivers’ attitudes and behaviour need to change if we want to reduce the road toll.

“We’re still losing far too many people to decisions that drivers are making. So what I mean by that is getting behind the wheel drunk, not wearing a safety belt, and using their cellphone while driving.