The Outlet
Voices of Central
The Outlet
Mastering Winter Roads: Senior Constable Graham Perkins on Safe Driving in Central Otago
Curious about how to navigate the icy roads of Central Otago this winter? Join us as we sit down with Alexandra Police Senior Constable Graham Perkins, who shares his invaluable insights on winter driving safety. From the dangers of black ice to the importance of having good tyres, working wipers, and functioning heaters, Graham offers practical advice to keep you and your loved ones safe. Discover why taking a few extra minutes in your morning routine can make all the difference between a safe commute and a hazardous journey.
But that's not all—we also tackle broader road safety issues in Central Otago. Learn about the efforts to manage the diverse range of drivers, from tourists to commuters, and the upcoming implementation of roadside drug testing to catch drivers under the influence of substances like cannabis. Graham discusses the pressing issue of drink driving and highlights the community's collective efforts to promote responsible driving. This episode is packed with essential information to ensure everyone can travel safely, no matter the season.
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You're still not getting the message. It's happening quite a bit recently, or even just over the past weekend. There were four caught between Friday and Saturday night just in Alexandra, plus the areas surrounding us, and it's a mixture of people as well. They're looking at having a beer after work and it's just going over that 250 micrograms of alcohol limit, which is infringable right up to 400. So over 400 is an appearance in the court and they're the ones that people don't want. They also don't want the infringement because it comes with 50 demerit points as well and it's not going to take too long before somebody loses their licence.
Speaker 1:The Outlet the voice of Central. Welcome to the Outlet. I'm your host, brent Harbour. In this podcast I talk to Alexandra Police Senior Constable Graham Perkins about the challenges he and fellow officers have to deal with during Central Otago's winters. We'll explore what it's like to patrol some of New Zealand's most extreme roads, the type of drivers that cause the most trouble and the crucial messages officers need to get across during the season. Local voices, local info. The outlet the voice of Central. G'day Graeme. Welcome to the Outlet Podcast. Great to have you, thanks. Very good, thank you.
Speaker 1:So how has the winter treated the police out on the roads and what are some of the things that your staff have encountered, graeme? Well, yeah, it's been quite an interesting winter. It started a little bit early for us, with the weather cooling down. We've had some good frosts and a couple of snowfalls sort of coming in. So what we are finding is drivers in the morning just kind of rush it a little bit, not warming up the car or clearing the windscreen properly. They'll scrape a little hole where they can actually sort of see through and off they go, either to work or dropping the kids off. So we've been out and about looking for those people which we call SNOPS. You've got windscreen and it is an offence and it's punishable by an infringement and the last thing people need is a $150 fine for, you know, just taking a couple of minutes extra just to clear that windscreen, warm the car up, get the heater going and everybody's safe Gets to work or school or wherever they're going on time. We're also seeing a bit of black ice and just the other day there was a late frost and it happened after it's 10 o'clock in the morning and it come down quite hard, where the temperature dropped away pretty quickly and we called a couple of people out with a couple of wee whoopsies. We haven't had any reports of vehicles crashing or off the road. It's more take care and attention. So all that with the winter driving that we're looking at. We've been pretty good, with no road closures, a couple of skiffs on the Lindis Pass, a wee bit of snow around the hill. So we've been pretty good. It's just been dark and cold.
Speaker 1:So what are some of the main messages that you really need to get through during our extreme winter weather, graham? Is take your time and I mean that honestly. If you're going to go somewhere, leave early and make sure your vehicle's up to scratch, warranted, it's got good tyres, the wipers work and that heater is going and it's comfortable for you and your passengers. And when I say take the time, it's prepare your vehicle and prepare your truck. Start the car up a few minutes early, get it warmed up, have it loaded up, either the night before or the gear ready to go, so you're not rushing to get to where you need to go. And, as I say to quite a few motorists, it's better to be late than dead on time. Absolutely, I mean, I teach this to my daughters. They've all got scrapers in their cars. They've all got cloths. People forget to have those. So you can wipe the inside of the windscreen as well after your defrosting's not happening in a year. It is that being prepared, right? You're dead right with the inside of the windscreen and it gets that sill on it and you can use the back of the hand, but it just smears it. It's a little bit, I had to say, frosty, but evenly. The windows, the passenger windows, your wing mirrors and your back window, they all need to be taken care of.
Speaker 1:Who are the drivers that are causing the most concern for you, graeme? That's interesting as well. We've actually got a mixture of everyone. We do have our young ones on our learners' restricted licence, or they've just got their full and they've been driving for a wee, while they get out and about at different times of the day of the mothers and dads that go to work. We have our trade vehicles and we also have our tourists. We see a lot of the camper vans are out and about at the moment. One thing that we have seen is police, the tourist industry getting away from the big buses and going to the smaller 20 seater or 30 seater one, and they're the ones that are towing a trailer where they can move a little bit quicker, easier to park, easier to travel and speed doesn't affect them, but they're traveling in convoy and they're holding up the motorist or they're passing on the broken yellow lines or sodded yellow lines and they're speeding, not adhering to the road conditions at all. So, yeah, we're having a mixture of those people and also, again, the mum and dads and the tradies and the businesses leaving to go to work. I see it quite often when I'm coming to work at 6 30, it's just a steady stream heading up towards cromwell. They're going up about their business, trying to get there in time and they may be caught in the cromwell gorge or edin up to wanaka with a bit of ice, a bit of snow, or they're just running late and just pushing envelope a little bit. Yeah, we're just a mixture of everybody really.
Speaker 1:Do you think the roads are getting busier in central Otago, greg? Yes, they are. I'm not too sure or can't really put our finger on it, but we're getting a lot of people, as I mentioned, with the tradies, going through to the biggest centres. They're finding accommodation further away from towns because that's where it's available, so they're having to leave earlier, coming into the likes of Alexandra, picking up different crews, heading into Cromwell, picking up more people going on to Wanaka and Queenstown, or again heading over the Lindus up to Amerima Twizel. So the roads are busy with the commercial business and also your buses are still getting about. You've got your GoBus, all the intercities, they're still out and about doing things and everybody sees the milk tanker, whether it's all time of the day, early starts, late nights, they're all going. So there's still a lot of trucking or freight on the road as well, just the products of where we live. We're isolated and everything's got to be transported.
Speaker 1:Now, what about drink driving? Are people still not getting the message? Yeah, they're still not getting the message. It's happening quite a bit. Recently, or even just over the past weekend, there were four caught between Friday and Saturday night just in Alexandra, plus the areas surrounding us, and it's a mixture of people as well. They're looking at having a beer after work and it's just going over that 250 micrograms of alcohol limit, which is infringable right up to 400. So over 400, there's an appearance in the court and they're the ones that people don't want. They also don't want the infringement because it comes with 50 demerit points as well, and it's not going to take too long before somebody loses their license.
Speaker 1:Coupled with where we live being a rural location, people have to drive to get to where they're going. So it's again plan your trip, have a sober driver. Some of the young ones that we see driving around they've got it organized. They organise themselves a sober driver there behind the wheel for the night, and if one of their mates has an argument, gets too many under the belt and takes off, well, you know, that's on them. But everybody's tried to keep everybody out of sight and we still get the older people we're looking, not to be generic, but the 50 to 60 to 70 year olds of that generation where it was.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I'm okay, I can have a drive, go down and have a jug and come home. Well, even the days of having a jug will pull you over the limit. Well, crikey, I don't know what you can do to get that through, but it's just not worth the risk at all, is it? No, it's not, and we're out there. We want to make sure everybody gets home safely. They can go home and see the family and their loved ones, and we'll do checkpoints, we will stop people. We'll put the breath test device on them at all tragic stops as we can and you'll be surprised at what time of day that we can actually find people who have the presence of alcohol. As an example, it was 9.30 in the morning on the Lindis Pass A male was stopped and he was heading over to the west coast to go fishing and he blew over 400 microbarrels. And that was at 9.30 in the morning and it was basically from the night before. Yeah, incredible People think they're okay if they've had a bit of sleep and get up. Right, that's it. Alcohol don't dissipate over a period but you need to shelf at least 12 to 24 hours to get it out of your system.
Speaker 1:Now the new test coming in for drug driving how far away from using that, graeme, it's four part of a niggle, it's seven sittings as it goes through. Listeners will probably see on the programs the RBT or the traffic programs in Australia where they do the drug testing over there. They've had it for quite a while and got a good system going and we want to have that same system here where we can do roadside breath tests. Some of those results that we're going to get will surprise people. We do have a lot of drivers under the influence and we can't test for it at the moment, but cannabis, you can certainly smell it through a closed window when the vehicle stops. So you know it's one of those ones that won't go away and if you want to smoke drugs or use drugs, you will be caught.
Speaker 1:Well, that's good to know that that's on the way through Parliament and we should get that sorted and catch up with the rest of the world. Well, graeme, it's been so good chatting to you. I really appreciate it and thanks for all the work you and the team do. Yeah, thank you very much for the opportunity to put this forward and I hope the listeners can take something from it. Just be careful out there when you drive On Buzzsprout, spotify, apple, wherever you get your podcasts. The Outlet, the voice of Central. Thanks for listening to the Outlet podcast from the Central app, your first place for the latest local news, sport, entertainment and what's on info for Central. The Outlet is produced and published by the Central app and supported with funding from the New Zealand Public Interest Journalism Fund. All episodes of the Outlet are available in the podcast section of your Central App and wherever you get your podcasts.