Wednesday, 29 April 2009 - 8:07am |
Waikato

Police urge drivers to drive to the conditions

1 min read

Drive to the conditions and at all cost avoid poles, posts and trees is the message from Waikato Police as they investigate their fifth road fatality on the District's roads in a week.

The Waikato's road toll rose to 16 overnight with the death of a 22-year-old Te Kuiti man in a single vehicle crash on SH31 between Te Awamutu and Otorohanga about 6.45pm.

Waikato Road Policing Manager, Inspector Leo Tooman, said crash investigators were still working to establish the cause of the crash but already two factors looked likely to have been contributors.

"The road conditions were wet and the car has crashed into a tree after the driver failed to negotiate a corner with a signposted recommended speed of 55km/h.

"It appears to be a case of the driver not driving to the conditions and this has been a feature in at least three of the last five fatalies that happened in wet weather."

Mr Tooman said too often analysis of fatal crashes in the Waikato showed drivers died after failing to negotiate a bend then over-correcting.

"Then they see a tree, post or pole, become fixated on it and try as they might to avoid it their vehicles end up colliding with these objects with tragic results.

"If a driver gets in trouble out there they should avoid contact with these objects at all costs but there's a simple solution, drive to the conditions and as the jingle says, if they change reduce your speed. The stakes are just too high," he said.

There were 21 road deaths in the waikato at the same period last year.

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