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Source: ONE News -
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Police are hoping for the lowest road toll in 50 years, but warn that it is too soon to be complacent, as the numbers still make for grim reading.
So far in 2008, 349 people have been killed on New Zealand's roads.
There have been six fatalities so far in the Christmas-New Year holiday period, which began on Christmas Eve.
National police road safety spokesman Inspector Rob Morgan says the reports from police on the ground are typical of any holiday.
He says most people are behaving, but police are always concerned at the number of people drinking and driving.
The toll could be on-course for a 50 year low. In 1956, there were 329 deaths, and 384 in 1957.
The worst year on record at a horrific 843 deaths was 1973. After that point, the first drink-driving checkpoints were authorised.
The government had set a target of no more than 300 deaths a year by 2010, with a long-term goal of no more than 200 by 2040.
When surveyed and compared in 2006, NZ had statistics of 9.4 deaths per 100,000 on the roads - comfortably below the United States and Greece, but much higher than the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. It's a major improvement on 1973, though, when New Zealand had a shameful 27.9 deaths per 100,000.
For police keeping an eye on holiday traffic this summer, it's very much a case of "back to the future".
Air patrols of busy roads are being carried out in central North Island regions, with a police officer on board reporting back to officers on the ground.
Morgan says it is a method which has been used before, and argues that while patrolling from a plane is costly, it's also effective.
