New data shows significantly more ministers crashed under one recent government than another. Photo / Getty Images
When it comes to running the country, who do you want in the driver’s seat?
An examination of the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) information shows significantly more crashes where ministers are to blame under one government than the other over the past decade.
Ministers get chauffeured when they’re on the job but taxpayers also provide a work car for journeys in which they want to drive themselves.
New information released through the Official Information Act reveals 77 prangs in ministerial self-drive cars from 2013 through to 2023.
The OIA request was prompted by then Cabinet Minister Kiri Allan’s car crash in Wellington, with the Herald keen to see how often those running the country ran into others while behind the wheel of a taxpayer-funded vehicle.
Allan’s crash led to her resignation and police charges of careless use of a motor vehicle and refusing to accompany a police officer. She also got fined for producing a breath test over the legal driving limit.
The cost of Allan’s crash was not included in the DIA data but it listed damage to the front-left bumper, the fender and passenger door, the steering rack and the chassis.
A search ofparliamentary written questions showed crashes in ministerial self-drive cars was of keen interest to National Party transport spokesman Simeon Brown months before Allan’s fall from grace.
In April this year, Brown asked 12 questions on how many crashes, who was driving, how much it cost - although with a narrow timeframe from 2020 to 2022.
Unfortunately, it was too narrow a band to extract useful data so the Herald asked DIA for a decade of crashes and went to Brown with our findings.
The new data showed National ministers had more crashes in a shorter time period - and almost twice as many as Labour in crashes where its ministers were at fault.
Those in the “blue” car had 23 car crashes in self-drive cars where the minister was at fault over a 236-week period that National was at the wheel.
And in the red car, there were 12 car crashes in self-drive cars where the minister was at fault over a 303-week period when Labour was in the driver’s seat.
Despite having developed a base of knowledge in the area, Brown did not want to comment.
Nor did he respond to requests to be interviewed on the issue. In a text message, he said: “I don’t think this is an issue New Zealanders are focused on as they vote”.
Labour’s transport spokesman David Parker’s self-drive car features in the list of 77 crashes. The DIA withheld the names of ministers but when contacted by the Herald he volunteered that someone had run into his car. It was among the 17 times somebody crashed into a minster.
Told of the Herald findings, Parker asked: “Why would you let accident-prone Nats drive the country?”
Forensic road crash investigator Bruce Wilson - a former police officer who investigated more than 1000 crashes - said the higher incidence of damage to the left-hand side of the vehicle indicated a loss of attention on the part of the driver.
The DIA data showed crash damage on the left-hand side in 34 cases and on the right-hand side in 12 cases.
Wilson, who worked as the police national supervising instructor for crash investigation, said: “Typically when looking at crashes, when they say ‘people make mistakes’, it’s more errors of judgment.”
He said ministers faced the difficulty of being unfamiliar with driving because the availability of official limousines reduced their time behind the wheel. Tiredness would also likely play a role, he said.
“A long week, they come home and jump into a car they’re not used to.” Having perused the descriptions of damage, he said “most of it looks to be they’ve bumped into stuff in the carpark”.
Wilson said the number of crashes across the fleet of cars appeared low. “I’m actually surprised they don’t ding their cars more. In the scheme of things, it’s not many crashes.”
Road safety campaigner Clive Matthew-Wilson produced American and Finnish research showing wealthier drivers tended to be more “arrogant and uncaring”.
”Owners of high-status cars are far more likely to behave badly in response to other road users.”
Matthew-Wilson echoed Wilson’s assessment of left-side damage, saying it suggested distraction. He said the most common reasons for driver inattention were tiredness, alcohol or drug impairment, or being distracted by electronic devices such as phones or navigation tools.
Collision Repair Association chairman Warren Flowerday said repairsof $600-$1500 would be “in the minor range”, requiring bumper or panel repair or replacement.
The average cost of a ministerial crash was $974 once the two big crashes on the list were removed - one at $16,104 in 2016 and one at $21,372 in 2020.
He said the repairs to vehicles during the 2013-2017 period would have cost less than the 2017-2023 period because of significant price rises in the industry, with minimum wage and training cost increases.
The data also showed other drivers - those nominated by the minister - had 22 crashes: 14 times when Labour was in power and eight times under National. There were seven at-fault crashes in the red car and six for blue.
A DIA spokesperson said insurance claims might not be made when damage was below the $1000 excess. In those cases, the DIA might absorb the cost or the minister might pay. This is supported by notes in the data provided showing instances in which ministers paid.
And in cases where the damage was not covered by insurance, the spokesperson said the minister or nominated driver would pay for repairs. The spokesperson said decade-old data meant there were some cases where the data provided did not include the cost of repairs.