SH1 Rolleston transport improvements

6 November 2023

Kia ora

To our Rolleston project subscribers - please watch your speed and wear your seatbelt.

This month police will adopt a 'spot-and-stop' policy in Canterbury: drivers will be pulled over if they are detected speeding and checks carried out to see if they and their passengers are also wearing seatbelts.

This includes roads in Selwyn District.

Inspector Natasha Rodley, Road Policing Manager for Canterbury says as we head toward the end of the year, people can get distracted thinking about Christmas and holidays coming up.

'We know that even low-level speeding will have a significant effect on the outcome of a crash and the injuries received.'

Crash analysis data shows that speed is one of biggest contributing factors to road deaths and serious injuries in Canterbury, with one in five fatalities in the district from 2018-2022 attributed to excessive speed.  It was a more common cause of fatal deaths for the period than alcohol (11.9 %), distraction (4%) and fatigue (4.2%).

Restraints, such as seatbelts, play a significant role in reducing deaths or serious injuries too. Over the same period, there were 47 deaths and 82 serious injuries where restraints were not worn.

'Wearing a seatbelt increases the chances of surviving a crash by 40%,' Ms Rodley says.

Waka Kotahi, Police, the Ministry of Transport and councils are working together to reduce deaths and serious injuries by 40% on New Zealand roads by 2030.

Reducing crashes is about how we drive and all the different parts of the system - roads, vehicles, speeds and people.

Please feel free to give other people in Selwyn and Canterbury the heads up and forward on this update.

Kā mihi

The Project Team.