 A concerted effort by both the police and City Impact Church has reduced the injury crash statistics to zero in the Dome Valley, north of Warkworth, New Zealand, over the last six month.
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AUCKLAND NZ (ANS) -- A concerted effort by both the police and City Impact Church has reduced the injury crash statistics to zero in the Dome Valley, north of Warkworth, New Zealand, over the last six month.
City Impact initiated their "Angels in the Dome" prayer campaign in March this year, after the Dome became known as one of the serious crash black spots in New Zealand.
Sergeant Stu Kearns from the Serious Crash Unit said he was aware of the reduction in crashes in general and injury crashes in particular, over the last year, compared to previous years. He put this down to the concentrated effort put in by local enforcement officers.
Transit's northern operations manager, Joseph Flanagan, said: "We are encouraged with results since the City Impact prayer campaign was initiated six months ago and we will continue monitoring the highway to see if this is a continuing trend. Transit measures accident trends on an annual basis with results being statistically significant over a period of about five years."
Peter Mortlock, senior pastor of City Impact Church in Browns Bay, said he welcomed the news of the reduction in injury crashes but would be disappointed in himself if he had been surprised by it.
"Prayer is a powerful tool in the hands of the Church," he said.
A team of City Impact prayer warriors went into the Dome in March and prayed over the three worst accident trouble spots, leaving an angel effigy erected at each spot.
Land Transport New Zealand commissioned a report on the area, from October 2006 to August 2007. This showed a total of 20 accidents in the first six months of the period, but only seven in the second period. In the first six months, before City Impact prayed, there was one fatality, one serious injury accident and six minor injury accidents. There were 12 non-injury accidents.
In the second period, up to August 2007, there have been no injury accidents at all. It is believed that statistic holds up for the months of September and October also, although that is not included in the report. The number of non-injury accidents has dropped to seven.
"We continue to pray for the Dome spasmodically, but also for the city and for the nation," he said. "Our local police sergeant told us we have one of the lowest crime statistics in New Zealand. We believe we are influencing our community for good."
Lynley Smith is a reporter in the Auckland newsroom of Challenge Weekly, New Zealand's independent and non-denominational Christian newspaper. Used by permission: ASSIST News Service www.assistnews.net
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