Expect the unexpected from police on roads

Police have been making themselves highly visible on Tasman roads and the number of checkpoints will ramp up over the festive season to remind people to take care and get home safely.

The Government’s $1.3 billion Road Policing Investment Programme 2024-2027 kicked off in July, targeting drunk or drugged drivers, plus speed on open road and high-risk locations. It fits with Tasman road policing manager, Inspector Hamish Chapman’s focus on being highly visible on the roads.

“No matter where you are driving, we could be there.”

So far this year, there have been 21 deaths in the Tasman police region which ranges from just south of Kaikoura and down the West Coast to Haast. Four of those were in the Nelson-Tasman area and he says a couple of those accidents involved alcohol or speed.

Just recently, a police team set up a checkpoint in the middle of the day at Springs Junction where the public would not expect one and he says one driver was processed for having alcohol. They elected to provide a blood sample which is being analysed and were forbidden from driving for 12 hours.

Over five days, including the past weekend, police carried out more than 5,500 breath tests in Nelson-Tasman and he says eight were above the alcohol limit for driving, with four recording over 400 micrograms of alcohol. One driver was caught speeding at 98kmh in a 50kmh area.

“These are very disappointing stats – people taking hugely unnecessary risks and we’re still, sadly, seeing far too much of that on our roads.

“The perfect game is catching no-one speeding or drunk driving.”

He says a significant police operation is planned for the Christmas and New Year period, including more breath testing and checkpoints, to remind drivers of their obligations.

Early next year the police will be able to carry out oral fluid testing for drugs at roadsides and Hamish welcomes that because he thinks drugs are possibly underrepresented in road statistics.

“It’s another tool in our tool kit for road safety.”

One of his big concerns on the open roads is speed, often driving too fast for the conditions.

“People going too fast for the corners and they fail to stay in their lane and drift into the other lane and then it can be fatal.

“A real push of mine is to have staff on the highways at high-risk areas or where the speeds are higher.”

His message to drivers is to put cellphones down, put seat belts on, drive at an appropriate speed for the conditions and stay off drink or take drugs before driving.

Automobile Association (AA) Nelson chairman, Kyle Lightfoot, says research shows that compared with other methods of encouraging drivers to comply with road rules, a police car on the road is among the most effective ways of achieving that.

“Police can’t be everywhere, but the AA strongly supports levels of funding that provides for highly-visible road policing so motorist believe there’s a realistic chance they could be caught if breaking the road rules.”