A truck driver is warning other road users to remember the basics after New Zealand's road toll crept up for another year.
The 2018 road toll reached 380, and the official holiday road toll ended at nine. It's nowhere near the highest holiday road toll New Zealand has ever had, but that's still nine people that will never go home.
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The dead include a pedestrian that was hit in Gore at 12:30am on Wednesday, and a motorcyclist killed by a car allegedly travelling the wrong way on the motorway in Wellington last week.
Police confirmed fatigue was a factor in the crash that killed the motorcyclist, and an elderly woman has been charged with dangerous driving causing death.
Craig Shaw told RadioLIVE's Summer Breakfast he spots plenty of dangerous driving out on the roads while he regularly drives his truck to Nelson.
"Not giving way on one-lane bridges, passing with blind corners coming up, not leaving themselves enough room to pass... being impatient."
Mr Shaw said he also often saw people sneaking into the gap between his truck and other cars, which he had often left there as extra stopping distance.
He said one thing would make people safer on the roads: thinking ahead.
"[Biggest message is] planning your trip, making sure that you have enough sleep because our biggest thing is making sure that we've got enough sleep," he said.
"Eight hours is about what you should be having in any job really, but the driving side sometimes is more.
"[Plan] your trip, making sure you've got food, drink and there's plenty of places to stop if you've got to top to buy food and drink and sometimes breaking your trip up into two, if you're going a long way."
The worst holiday road toll - 37 - came in 1972/73.
Newshub.
