A rise in the annual road toll last year shows more road safety measures need to be put in place, the Land Transport Safety Authority (LTSA) says.
Last year 459 people died on New Zealand's roads, up from 2002's record low toll of 404. That should serve as a reminder newmeasures were needed to keep the road toll going down, LTSA director David Wright said.
"When you have more people driving more cars greater distances on about the same amount of road, the natural tendency is for crashes and casualties to go up," Mr Wright said in a statement.
"To counteract the upward pressure from ever-increasing traffic volumes, steps have to be taken to push the number of crashes back down."
New measures announced last month to target serious speeding drivers and repeat drink drivers were needed to help reduce crashes.
"An additional $47 million for road safety engineering projects announced in October and a new road code refresher education campaign are also part of a co-ordinated long-term strategy to bring the road toll down," Mr Wright said.
"The Government has set a target of no more than 300 road deaths and no more than 4500 hospitalisations per year by 2010. Meeting those goals will not be easy, but the new engineering, education and enforcement measures announced in recent months are important steps."
Mr Wright said that in the past 10 years more than 5000 people had been killed in road crashes - the equivalent of wiping out a small town.
"They were real people and they all leave behind grieving families and friends," Mr Wright said.
