WELLINGTON, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand police are pleading with drivers to take more responsibility after a lethal weekend on the country's roads, a police statement said on Monday.
Nine people died between Friday and the early hours of Monday, bringing New Zealand's road toll to 292 for 2017, up 41 on the same time last year, the statement said, adding that at least 10 others were injured or seriously injured.
Assistant Commissioner Road Policing, Sandra Venables, said that this weekend's fatalities will have left families devastated up and down the country.
"Every death is reported as a number, but each number has a face, a name and a family," Venables said, adding "we cannot continue to tolerate the loss."
She said it was too early to give exact details of the causes of the weekend's crashes but speed, fatigue, losing control and crossing the centre-line were all factors.
"Police are committed to reducing death and injury on our roads and our staff are out there every day targeting unsafe drivers," Venables said, adding that ultimately safe journeys start and end with driver behavior.
