Weekend warning - speed, alcohol and seat belts targeted

Canterbury Police will maintain a high-visibility presence on State Highways across the district this weekend, in a bid to prevent crashes during the holiday period.

Senior Sergeant Phil Newton, of the Canterbury Highway Patrol, says officers will be focusing on speed, alcohol and seat belts. Officers will be enforcing a 4kmh tolerance on speed this holiday weekend.

"If motorists follow the simple messages of slow down, belt up and stay sober, they'll have a far greater chance of enjoying a safe, crash-free holiday," he says.

"Last Labour Day weekend there were 26 people injured as a result of crashes on Canterbury roads. Our aim is to work with the road users to have safe journeys this weekend.

The official Labour Day weekend holiday period for 2012 will begin at 4pm on Friday 19 October and end at 6am on Tuesday 23 October.

Nationally during Labour Day weekend in 2011 there were seven fatal crashes and 71 reported injury crashes. These crashes resulted in eight deaths, 17 serious injuries and 92 minor injuries.

Senior Sergeant Newton says research shows the majority of fatal crashes during long weekends occur on the open road.

"Not surprisingly speed is a major factor in crashes on State Highways. We urge drivers to keep to the speed limits, slow down and drive to the conditions.

"It's also important to be patient with other drivers. Roads will be a lot busier and it's easy to get impatient - so we recommend travellers extra time for their journeys and not be tempted to take risks like overtaking or cutting corners.

"We'll be making sure we have patrols out on the roads at peak times keeping a close eye on driver behaviour.

"Officers will also be targeting drink-driving - including breath testing every driver stopped."

"Historically the rate of alcohol-related crashes increases at least 50 percent during Labour Day weekend."

The other area of enforcement will be around seat belts, with data showing nearly a third of all fatalities so far this year in Canterbury could have been prevented if the driver or passenger had been wearing their seatbelt.