DCC staff to get tips on driving

The Dunedin City Council wants its staff to get behind the wheel with New Zealand rally ace Emma Gilmour, in an effort to cut the number of accidents involving council vehicles.

The move comes as figures obtained by the Otago Daily Times showed 72 council vehicles were involved in accidents in the past three years, with the bill for repairs and replacement vehicles totalling $58,389.

There have been 33 accidents in the 2009-10 year to date, following 12 in 2008-09 and 27 in 2007-08, the figures showed.

Three vehicles were so badly damaged they were later written off.

Council Citifleet team leader Brent Bachop said, when contacted, any crashes that occurred could be considered too many, and talks were under way to secure Gilmour's services.

The Dunedin-born rally ace - now based in Hamilton - ran the AA's driver safety programme, and it was hoped she could be brought to Dunedin this year to instruct council staff in defensive driving skills, Mr Bachop said.

The council ran a driver training programme for its staff each year, but it would be the first time someone of Gilmour's calibre had been involved.

Mr Bachop said the crash rate reflected the overall size of the council and its vehicle fleet, as well as the places they went, the severity of any particular winter and - sometimes - the behaviour of other drivers.

"The majority of accidents are minor, just bumps and scrapes and things like that, and not always our drivers' fault, I have to add.

"You would ideally want to have no crashes, but it's the nature of the work we do."

The most serious accidents reported in the past three years included two in which heavier vehicles reversed into smaller council vehicles, Mr Bachop said.

One council-owned truck was written off after a mobile compactor machine reversed into it at the council's Green Island landfill, twisting the truck's chassis, during the 2008-09 year, he said.

Another council car parked on a Dunedin street, while a staff member inspected a roading job, was struck by a reversing piece of heavy machinery and later written off, he said.

The third write-off accident happened on December 14, 2007, when a private vehicle drove through a Give Way sign on Wharf St, Dunedin, and collided with a council vehicle, rolling the council vehicle on to its roof, Mr Bachop said.

The driver was left suspended upside down by his seatbelt, but received "only a few scratches and bruises", Mr Bachop said.

No other council staff were injured in the 72 accidents, despite the toll on council vehicles, he said.

The figures were released to the ODT following a request under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.

They also showed the council's total fleet size stood at 153 vehicles, together valued at about $3 million.

Both figures had remained static over the past three years.

The council spent $1.785 million on vehicle purchases during the period.

Its water and waste department had the most vehicles, with 51 utility vehicles, cars, trucks and vans, with other departments under 20 vehicles and most under 10 vehicles.

The council's parking enforcement team had one car and 14 scooters.

chris.morris@odt.co.nz