NZ fails on road safety - Trafinz

DAVID HALLETT/The Press

ROAD TOLL: During the past 12 months 370 people died and thousands more were injured badly enough to require hospital treatment.

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New Zealand has fallen dramatically and fatally short of its road safety targets, according to Traffic Institute of New Zealand (Trafinz) president Andy Foster.

And he says part of the reason for the failure is "lack of political guts".

Ten years ago the Government approved a target to reduce the road death toll below 300 per annum by 2010, and hospitalisation rates below 4500 a year.

"As a nation we've made progress but we will fall badly short of that target, where leading nations like Sweden and the UK have achieved equally ambitious targets," said Mr Foster.

"New Zealand's failure is largely attributable to misplaced investment priorities and a lack of political guts."

The institute's annual conference starts in Wellington today.

Mr Foster, Wellington city councillor, said the conference would involve some serious soul-searching.

"Hundreds of people continue to be needlessly killed on our roads - and thousands maimed - largely because politicians haven't had the courage to make some decisions that, on the face of it, might initially be unpopular.

"However, we think there's a lot of support for action. Surely our Government should be valuing us as highly as the leaders of other nations value their citizens.

"It seems too many are almost comfortable with a certain number of deaths and injuries."

During the past 12 months 370 people died and thousands more were injured badly enough to require hospital treatment.

Mr Foster said Trafinz predicted New Zealand would fail to meet the targets as long ago as 2005.

"It was obvious the then government was not acting on most of the proposals in the strategy, written in 2000 by the-then Land Transport Safety Authority," he said.

"The Government knew it too and did a mid term review (by Jeanne Breen) and a wide consultation exercise. However, when presented by their safety agencies, Police, Transfund, ACC etc, with a range of initiatives they essentially ducked the lot."

He placed most of the blame for a continuing high road toll on the previous Labour-led government - because it had eight years to take action.

"However, while the present National-led government is doing some good things in terms of road safety - it is also showing worrying signs of not being able to make some tough calls to save lives," Mr Foster said.

"We're starting to see moves made on alcohol, and driver training for example, but too hesitantly - and its road investment programme is a huge opportunity missed."

The conference features four international keynote speakers including Tony Bliss, one of the architects of the 2000 Strategy, now lead road-safety specialist at the World Bank.

Other international speakers are Soames Job, Australia's road safety director, roads and traffic authority; Eric Howard, an Australian consultant and former chief executive of Victoria Roads; and Spaniard Javier Sachez-Ferragut Andreu, president of Tispol - The European Traffic Police Network.

- NZPA