Still too many needless deaths

The Christmas holiday road toll of 12 is an improvement on the previous year's 16 deaths for the period, but given so many fatalities are deemed preventable, we still have a long way to go to reduce the numbers dying needlessly on our roads.

The annual road toll has been steadily declining since the early 1990s. From the 1970s until then, the toll was regularly in the 600s or 700s.

In 1973, it peaked at 843.

Those numbers are simply horrific to consider.

Thankfully, newer cars, road improvements and various safety measures have had a major impact.

The annual road now averages 300 and is tracking steadily down.

In 2013 (when 254 people died), it was the lowest since 1950.

The provisional toll for 2015 is 321.

Various factors make driving in New Zealand challenging.

Our weather is changeable and extreme.

Many of our roads lack median barriers, and outside the main centres they are often hilly, narrow and winding, single-lane and unsealed.

Too often we play the blame game, however, rather than considering our own actions and attitudes on the road.

We don't take kindly to the enforcement of speed limits over holiday periods, the increased police presence on the roads, and location of speed cameras, for example, regularly accusing authorities purely of "revenue-gathering''.

We too readily point the finger at tourist drivers when the overwhelming majority of crashes nationwide involve New Zealanders.

Some deaths occur as a result of someone else's appalling decision-making or lack of skill.

Some may be a genuine accident - the result of an unforeseen and unpreventable event.

But police maintain most road deaths are preventable.

That means we must consider our own behaviour, question our own skills behind the wheel, and make changes for the better.

We remain largely intolerant of cyclists and tourist drivers, for example.

We don't always adapt our driving to the weather or traffic.

We take risks for stupid reasons, make bad decisions at intersections and around over- taking.

We get impatient and aggressive, we tailgate, we still talk on our cellphones despite laws banning that.

We become complacent and think "it won't happen to us''.

Far too often crashes are the result of one or more of the "fatal five'', the absolute basics: drink-driving, speeding, distraction, fatigue and not wearing a seatbelt.

Road crashes are harrowing for everyone.

Injuries may be horrific.

As family and friends often travel together, some crashes may have more than one fatality from the same group - compounding the tragedy.

Emergency services personnel and passersby who are first on the scene will be affected, too.

The social and economic cost is also high, estimated by the Ministry of Transport to be more than $3 billion a year.

The Government has recently made several road safety changes, particularly targeting young drivers, which have thankfully reduced fatalities in the 15-24 age group.

Changes to roads are under way too, with more median barriers and rumble strips, directional arrows and no-passing lanes painted in some places, including in the South.

More educational material targeting foreign drivers is also available.

There has been criticism such measures are not enough, or not happening quickly enough, however, particularly as the number of foreign independent travellers increases.

It is understandably a sensitive subject in some areas in the South, where up to a quarter of crashes can involve foreign drivers.

But, depending on location, if upwards of 75% of crashes involve New Zealand drivers, blaming others will continue to hinder our progress.

As individuals we must do better behind the wheel - and demand that of our friends and families, too. We must heed the safety messages from authorities and respect those enforcing the rules, and we must continue to press for (and be prepared to pay for) regional and national improvements to roading infrastructure. Reducing the road toll is quite simply everyone's responsibility.