Editorial: Driver education one key factor to lower road toll

Could more defensive driver courses and regular re-testing of motorists help reduce the road toll?

Editorial

EDITORIAL

As people who have been on short holiday breaks over Christmas and New Year returned to work yesterday, the road toll for 2023 was already at seven for the first week.

Last year’s total of 29 for the whole of January was the first monthly step towards a 2022 provisional toll of 379 - the worst in four years. The provisional holiday road toll from December 23 to January 4 was 22.

Generally, road death statistics show a downward trend from 1990 (730) to 2013 (253), before rising again. Pandemic lockdowns reduced road deaths to 318 in 2020 and 2021.

The Herald’s series on the quality of New Zealand’s roads and changes to speed limits prompted a lot of ongoing debate among readers.

There were suggestions about where the problems lie, the causes, and what could be done about them.

While some focused on a single issue to argue against, or for, the wide range of issues and solutions discussed over days was notable. As is usually the case with problems, and possible fixes, they are complex, not simple. They have multiple strands.

Road travel in New Zealand is a society-wide issue rather than just a transport one. Tackling the road toll properly means looking in particular at driver education.

Causes identified by readers included:

- Poor driver attitudes and behaviour such as tailgating, weaving through traffic, dangerous overtaking, lack of indicating, impatience, thrill-seeking and road rage.

- Inadequate skills and knowledge from insufficient professional learning at the outset and a lack of regular instructions for drivers over the course of their lives.

- Basic poor driving habits such as not concentrating properly, going too fast or too slow, not driving to the conditions, not wearing seatbelts, the influence of drink and drugs and being distracted by cellphones and dashboard displays.

- Insufficient enforcement of rules with not enough visible policing. Too many unlicensed drivers, unregistered vehicles without warrants on the roads, and inadequate penalties.

- Roadside distractions and designs with not enough passing bays and single lanes making passing slow vehicles difficult.

A common view was that rule-breaking should trigger driver skill reviews and that learning should include defensive driving courses.

Some wanted a return to the clearly defined traffic enforcement division and the Ministry of Works to maintain roads.

Better-designed roads and vehicles will be important to lowering road tolls. Driving on wide-laned roads with passing lanes and adequate roadside room is a calmer experience and feels safer than travelling on narrow causeways. Centre lines, median barriers and other features can help drivers concentrate.

Intelligent speed limiters are mandatory on new models of cars in Europe and will be on all new cars sold from next year there. But they can be switched off.

It could be worth putting some revenue from speeding fines towards helping some people to purchase a reliable car, driving lessons, licencing, WOF, registration, fuel, repairs, and insurance. It’s too tempting for people struggling financially to cut corners.

One very obvious way to reduce the road toll long-term is to reduce traffic volumes by providing alternatives such as reliable bus and train services.