Jane Nees BOP Regional Councillor www.janenees.co.nz

Our roads are a critical lifeline for our communities and our economy, but road accidents extract a terrible toll when things go wrong on the tarmac.

Unfortunately, the road toll of crash fatalities in the Western Bay in 2014 and 2015 were the highest for the previous 10 years.

Key risk factors were speed, alcohol and drug impairment, distraction, and unforgiving roads and roadsides. This week is Road Safety Week across New Zealand – and a great time to reflect on the risks on our roads and all the good work being done to minimise them.

Recently, I attended the Western Bay Joint Road Safety Committee Meeting, which brings together representatives from three councils, New Zealand Police, New Zealand Transport Agency, ACC, and the Travel Safe Programme in the Western Bay.

It was excellent to see these agencies all working together on an agreed programme to target risk areas on our roads. The programme is built on best practice, community participation and partnerships, and takes an integrated approach.

I was astonished to see the range of programmes underway in our schools and our communities to encourage safe cycling, safe driving, safe vehicles, safer speeds and safer roads and roadsides.

One piece of very good news shared was the improvement in the performance of young drivers on our roads. Prosecutions of younger drivers aged under 20 for driving offences has dropped substantially during the last five years.

But unfortunately, prosecutions of people aged 50-plus is increasing. We ‘oldies' need to do better, since one small mistake can have a great cost. Let's be careful out there.