The Star: July 05, 2018

6
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Thursday July 5 2018
News
The Star
Making plans to look after our older
As the population ages,
so do drivers. Julia
Evans investigates what
we are doing to plan for
them
PLANS ARE being prepared
in a bid to be “proactive” about
the increasing number of older
drivers.
The Star reported that the city
council, New Zealand Transport
Agency, ACC, Canterbury police
and Christchurch Transport
Operations Centre had developed
a Road Safety Action Plan aiming
to reduce the number of crashes
resulting in death and injury.
While identifying “key risk”
factors, the plan also highlights a
“developing/emerging” risk that
needs to be planned for. That is
“safety for older road users (those
aged 75 years and older),” the
plan said.
It said police are developing a
“comprehensive strategy to effectively
engage with older drivers”
and will be running a stall at the
Positive Ageing Expo in September
in Christchurch.
Road policing operations
manager, Senior Sergeant Kelly
Larsen, said there is an ageing
population across New Zealand,
AGEING: Plans are being formulated to cater for the growing number of older drivers.
and so police are looking to be
“proactive” rather than “reactive.”
“We’re taking a prevention first
approach, there’s no point in being
the ambulance at the bottom
of the cliff,” she said.
Senior Sergeant Larsen said the
plan is letting older people know
what support and educational
services are available for older
drivers.
“The plan is the development of
a multi-agency strategy involving
police, health, Age Concern, and
council. We are looking to identify
intervention points where we
can provide older drivers with
the information they need to
ensure they remain safe on our
roads,” Senior Sergeant Larsen
said.
She highlighted Age Concern’s
confident drivers course, but said
it was also as simple as having eye
and hearing tests.
“It’s just about making sure
FAST FACTS
•In the 12 months until
April, 1432 crashes
injured or killed people
over the age of 65.
•Compared to 6558
involving 15 to 34-yearolds,
and 4872 involving
35 to 64-year-olds.
•125,000 Cantabrians over
65 hold a driver licence.
•By 2031, a quarter of
Christchurch residents
will be 65 and older.
everyone is safe and competent
if they’re driving on our roads,”
she said.
“People may think police are
out with a punitive sanction and
we’re out to take people’s licences
but that’s not the case.”
Canterbury has more than
125,000 drivers over 65-years-old
who hold a driver licence.
Senior Sergeant Larsen said
police often made “prevention
call-outs” if it was necessary.
“If someone rings *555 to report
irregular driving behaviour
then we go out there and have a
prevention conversation. Older
drivers do tend to feature as a significant
part of those,” she said.
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