OUR VIEW: Stop sign mistakes can be costly | Bay of Plenty News | Local News in Bay of Plenty

The modern motorist is constantly exposed to safety warnings, mostly around the issues of speed and alcohol.

There's good reason for this, as these two factors play a major part in many serious road crashes, the sort of crashes than can end in injury or death.

The community and the media are quick to pour scorn upon the actions of any motorist found to be breaking the rules during a crash. Teenagers, and particularly "boy racers", are a common target.

But perhaps we also need to take a look at ourselves.

A Bay of Plenty Times survey of 100 vehicles at two of Tauranga's busiest intersections found more than half of the drivers failed to stop at a stop sign.

The two intersections surveyed, at Spring and Durham Sts, and Wharf and Durham Sts, are notorious for crashes in the inner city.

In all, 51 drivers at the Spring St intersection and 55 at Wharf St failed to come to a complete stop before driving through.

These drivers have no excuse - crashes have occurred at both these intersections in the past and, as Acting Senior Sergeant Mark Holmes of the Western Bay of Plenty Road Policing Unit says, if the intersections were safe enough to be controlled by just a Give Way sign, they would be.

These drivers aren't alone in breaking the road rules.

Those of us who drive a car would likely all admit to not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign, as outlined in the road code, at one time or another. It's easy to be lax, but it doesn't change the fact that the law's the law, and it's in place for a reason.

The risk is amplified by the fact that Tauranga's roads are getting busier than ever, as the city's population grows at one of the fastest rates in the country.

The council is moving to address this through roading developments, but progress can only happen so fast, and in the meantime our roads are slowly filling up with vehicles.

The problem will get even worse as summer approaches and the city has to cope with the annual flood of visitors keen to make the Bay their home-away-from-home during the summer break.

Something needs to change, and that change can only be achieved with a two-fold approach.

Purely punitive measures will not work, however increasing the $150 penalty for failing to stop would be a good start.

Police and road safety organisations have done well to emphasise the message about safe driving at intersections - the distinctive "wheel of risk" television advertisements have done much to educate drivers.

While drink-driving is still a significant social problem in this country, anecdotal evidence suggests the newest generation of young motorists pay more attention to the anti drink-drive message than those who preceded them.

That fact alone provides hope that through continued vigilance by authorities, and greater individual responsibility by motorists, we can ensure our roads remain safe for all of us to share.