Stephen Greally: Superintendent & National Road Policing Manager urges caution for Kiwi drivers around holiday

Police are renewing calls for patience on the roads this holiday period, warning lives are at risk.

Fifteen people were killed in crashes between Christmas Eve and early January last summer.

The toll has topped 11 for five consecutive years.

National Road Policing Manager Superintendent Stephen Greally told Andrew Dickens that too many drivers are focused on getting to the front of the queue.

He says that risk taking causes carnage on too many occasions.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
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Speaker 2 (00:16):
As we enter the holiday period, we know the roads
around the country will be busy during the holidays. Last
year we saw fifteen people killed. So how do we
keep the road safe but moving this really really, really
busy time of the year. So the Director of Road Policing,
Superintendent Steve Greeley, is with us. Now, good morning here, Steve,
we can hard morning Andrew.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Yeah, no, it's all going well. I'm up on the
beautiful placecording your plumb. It's nice, a sunny and great
people around it. It's great.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
What's the message for motorists this summer, Like.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
It's the same message as it's been for every summer
really and actually every day of the year. It's just
about doing the basics really well and not difficult. As
you know, you guys have heard us talk about us
nearly is. To some it's like a stuck record, right,
But it's just about those basic things around mashaints to
making sure you've dealt it up and everybody in the car,

(01:07):
especially cet, making sure you're not impaired by any substance. Alcohol,
drugs otherwise, because he actually know we're onto that now,
the drug side of things and making sure you've got
the right speed and you're not distracted, you know sort.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Of stuff, and patients.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
Patience is a really interesting thing for Kiwis. I don't
know what your observation has y, but I've been driving
for many, many years, and my observation would be that
everybody seems to want to be at the front of
the queue, no matter what the rest to get there.
You know, it's and unfortunately, on too many occasions that
risk taking causes carnage and that's heartbreaks for families day.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah, they're looking for the clear view. They don't want
to be behind a tracker, they don't want to be
behind a caravan. They want a clear view so they
can enjoy the countryside. So they go one hundred and twenty,
so they overtake whatever cars in front of them. I know,
I actually drove. I actually drove from the Coromandal to
Auckland last night and I'll tell you what got me
is when I got to the multi lane motorways, you know,
the three lane motorways, those impatient people who constantly chopping

(02:09):
and changing lanes going into the inside and inside and
then back to the outside. They think they can find
a lane that's going to travel quicker. So I did
an experiment and I went, Okay, have you actually got
to the next point twenty k down the road any
quicker than me? And they haven't. But my god, they
changed lanes a lot, and every time they change a lane,
that's a risk.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
Yeah, yeah, no, it absolutely is. It's more for people
to contend with more decision making and more awareness. That
complicates things. People just need to remember just be patient.
We'll not terally good at that as keys, I don't think,
so we've got to do better too to bring the
charnage down a bit more.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Now, the new thing round Wellington was the testing for
drugs which started just before Christmas. So is this coming
to other areas over this holiday period?

Speaker 3 (02:53):
Not over this holiday period?

Speaker 1 (02:55):
No.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
At the moment, we're staging a pilot in Wellington until
about March next year. That's going to enable us to
do some tweak and adjustment just to make sure that
we've we've got everything right in this legislation. It's outstanding
legislation and it really will have it. We'll see the
bonus of you know the benefits of that over the
years to come. But in around March to June next year,

(03:15):
we'll roll it out incrementally across the country.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Steve Greeley, I thank you for your work. I keep
on working over the holiday period. Steve is the director
of Road Policing.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
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