13 Franklins Unlucky Number

Once again Franklin’s Road Safety Liaison Group has received a report on 13 serious crashes in the District over the last six weeks. The number of serious crashes in Franklin has, regrettably, continued to hover around 13 every six weeks for most of the year. During this period all 13 crashes occurred on rural roads.

The New Zealand Police reported to the meeting that there were 115 traffic crashes reported in Franklin between 24 September and 4 November. Thirteen of these resulted in people needing to get medical care or significant property damage. One was fatal.

“Thirteen serious crashes in Franklin are 13 too many. It is time to change,” says Franklin District Council’s Road Safety Coordinator, Monique Haines.

Another negative trend that the Road Safety Liaison Group (whose members include the New Zealand Police, Franklin District Council, ACC, LTNZ, Opus, Counties Power and others) has noticed is the prevalence of Waiuku drivers involved in the crashes. The trend continues to be that many of the crashes are caused by local drivers on local roads, and Waiuku drivers are over represented.

The Serious Crash report for 24 September - 4 November indicated the following:

• There were 115 crashes reported to Police
• 13 were serious, resulting in either significant damage and/or medical attention being required
• All 13 crashes occurred on rural roads during this period
• 10 of the 13 serious crashes were caused by driver error or driving too fast for the conditions
• Although seven of the drivers were visitors to the District, local drivers who were involved in serious crashes were mainly from Waiuku