A new road safety advertising campaign is directly challenging speeding drivers to slow down - and it might be the most poignant yet.
The joint NZ Transport Agency/police ad urges speeders to stop defending their perceived 'right' to speed.
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"Every week, 11 people are seriously injured or killed in a speed-related crash on New Zealand roads, but a substantial portion of our society does not see the connection between speed and crashes," says NZ Transport Agency director of safety and environment Harry Wilson.
"That needs to change, because the facts and the physics are indisputable."
In the ad, a police officer meets several speeding drivers who offer excuses for why they're speeding.
He then deals with the consequences as he visits crash sites, collects jewellery to identify the dead and visits the families of the victims.
"I'm doing everything in my power to stop you from seeing the things I've seen," he says.
Assistant Commissioner for road policing Sandra Venables says the consequences of people driving too fast for the conditions can be devastating.
"Police officers see the human cost of speed nearly every day on our roads.
"Even when speed doesn't cause the crash, it is the single biggest determinant in whether anyone is killed, injured, or walks away unharmed."
O those who died in 2017:
- slightly more than half - 195 - were drivers
- 82 were passengers
- 45 were on a motorbike
- 40 were pedestrians
- and 18 were on a pushbike.
Newshub.
