Government Road to Zero safety plan 'comprehensive and ambitious'

More police presence on the roads is part of the Government's Road to Zero safety strategy that has been released for public feedback. Photo / Warren Buckland

The Automobile Association is welcoming the Government's road safety vision for zero road deaths, but says it will need billions of dollars to realise.

But National Party leader Simon Bridges says the Government is ignoring the single best thing it could do, which would be to invest in its Roads of National Significance projects.

Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter this morning released the Road to Zero strategy for public consultation.

It is based on the principle that one road death is too many, and aims to cut road deaths by 40 per cent in the next decade by:

• Improving infrastructure of existing roads

• Making it easier for councils to change speed limits

• Reviewing driver licensing and Warrant of Fitness systems

• Setting safety standards for imported cars, and making ABS brakes mandatory for motorbikes over 125CC

• Having more police on the roads, with more overt speed cameras.

Contributing factors to death and serious road injuries in 2017. Source / Road to Zero consultation document

Fines could also be reviewed, and even lowered, if the evidence showed that they played a trivial role in reducing road harm.

AA spokesman Mike Noon said it was a "comprehensive and ambitious" strategy that targeted all the right things.

"It will need a lot of investment. Substantial investment," he added, noting the Government's $1.4 billion announcement last year to make 870km of high volume, high-risk State Highways safer by 2021.

"Just lowering the speed limit on a road doesn't necessarily deliver the benefits you want and the speed reductions you want. You need to do engineering to that road. A crash at 80km/h is still a very serious crash if the road is not safe.

"If you have ditches, poles, trees, and culverts, even at 80km/h the infrastructure is not protecting if a driver makes a mistake. And drivers will make mistakes."

Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter has released a draft document about the Government's road safety strategy. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Many roads needed to be improved, such as State Highway 58, the most dangerous road in the Wellington region.

"It has been a black collective risk (many injuries and deaths) for over a decade. It was supposed to be upgraded by 2020 and it has not been funded yet."

He said the vehicle fleet also needed to be made safer, even if that led to a "small risk" that some drivers would keep their cars for longer.

He also welcomed the review of fines to balance penalties and enforcement.

"The previous approach to speed cameras has been a covert model. That's not actually slowing people down. It's just ticketing people.

"This strategy follows the overt, Swedish model. We work out where there is a problem with speed, and we signpost that area to say there is camera enforcement, so people know they need to slow down."

He noted the Government's stated intention to drop speed limits on 10 per cent of the country's most dangerous roads.

Casuatlies by road user type in 2018. Source / Road to Zero consultation document

At the last election National promised eight roading projects - including Mill Rd in South Auckland, Auckland's east-west link, and a Napier-Hastings four-lane expressway - but the Government has dismissed them as a wishlist that was never budgeted for.

But Bridges said investing in those roads was the most important safety action the Government could take.

One of them, the highway north of his Tauranga electorate, was one of the most dangerous highways in New Zealand, he said.

"A four-lane highway would have meant people no longer died. It was set to start last year, and these guys canned it.

"We would rather see our tax dollars spent on new, high-quality roads that are safe to travel on at 100km/h."

Noon had some sympathy for Bridges, saying the Government could follow through with its safety plans as well as invest in the RONS.

"Three of those are among the highest-risk roads. They need to be funded, and they're not funded at the moment.

"There is absolutely a place for four-lane motorways that carry a lot of traffic and freight."

Road fatalities per 100,000 people in 2017. Source / Road to Zero consultation document

The Motor Trade Association welcomed the Government's draft strategy and its focus on vehicle safety.

"First-time WoF fails have increased from 35 per cent to 40 per cent in the last five years," MTA chief executive Craig Pomare said.

"Our research also shows around half of vehicle owners do nothing to check and maintain their vehicle between WOFs. A third don't know what the minimum safe tyre tread depth is.

"These statistics tell us people are not focused on the safety and maintenance of their cars. However, maintenance is fundamental to road safety."

New Zealand driver safety advocate and motor sport legend Greg Murphy said that better driver training was crucial to lowering the road toll, which last year was 377.

"Yes people make mistakes, but the consequences of making mistakes in reality can be fatal, if they have been taught what to do when mistakes happen, or better still have training that creates better awareness so mistakes aren't happening as much, they have a far better chance of survival.

"You can't gain experience if you are dead."

The consultation period will run for four weeks, closing on August 14.