Some drivers 'don't get the message'

Dangerous overtaking

Straight through a give way

RULE IGNORED: A truck-mounted camera snaps a four-wheel-drive towing a trailer passing over a yellow line.

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Some motorists will continue to be irresponsible despite safety and education campaigns, police say.

Canterbury road policing manager Inspector Al Stewart made the comments in the wake of video footage, featured in The Press yesterday, from Canterbury Waste Services (CWS) truck cameras, highlighting some of the region's worst drivers.

The videos – more of which will be released on press.co.nz today – show cars running red lights and stop signs, running cars off the road while overtaking, pulling out in front of traffic and skidding around corners in wet conditions.

Stewart said police worked to educate motorists about dangerous driving, but some people "don't get the message".

"We'll always be up against that. The majority of drivers are pretty good and pretty responsible. There are still some pretty irresponsible people out there, though."

Police figures show three-quarters of the 1376 fatal and injury crashes in Canterbury last year involved dangerous and careless driving.

Crash factors included poor handling, failure to keep left, poor judgment, fatigue and failure to give way or stop.

Road Transport Forum New Zealand chief executive Tony Friedlander said the cameras were "a very useful tool".

He was not surprised by the dangerous manoeuvres.

"We're well aware there's some appalling driver behaviour out there. The cameras are designed to help identify that," he said.

"Often people blame the trucks in a crash, the cameras often show otherwise."

He said most motorists were sensible, but there was a "small, idiot-fringe percentage".

"The police and the transport agency were doing their best, but people are slow learners and every now and then people do dumb things," he said.

Stewart said police would be interested in dangerous-driving complaints.

"If they have video, that's great, but we'd take any complaint in any form," he said.

No charges had been laid in relation to the CWS-recorded videos.

See press.co.nz for new videos of Canterbury's worst drivers.

YOUR FEEDBACK

"I'm surprised that there aren't dozens of fatalities each week in Christchurch city."

"Driving standards in Christchurch are abysmal."

"Unfortunately, some drivers' manners on the roads are terrible. Equally, I can understand the impatience side of it as often encountering people travelling at 65kmh (max) in an 80kmh-speed zone."

"Let's face it: Christchurch drivers have become extremely bad at giving way and stopping at STOP signs. Even using their indicator seems to be a thing of the past. I am ashamed to say Aucklanders seem to act far better than us down here. What's gone wrong?"

"The driving standard here is terrible. People just don't have a clue. Drivers here are lazy, impatient, arrogant and ignorant."

"I have long wondered what would happen if I installed a camera on the front of my car and just forwarded images on to the police for them to deal with all the idiots on the road. Maybe it is something that the police could look at supplying – would help with identifying who was at fault in a crash when there is a dispute as well."

"If we want safer roads, we need to remove the one part of the car which is always the cause of crashes. The squishy organic bit behind the steering wheel."

"There are so many dreadful drivers in NZ who don't know the rules! Every driver should have to go through a driving test every 10 years to keep them on their toes – that might encourage drivers to learn and remember the NZ road code."

- © Fairfax NZ News