Road toll: record low for year to September

Transport Minister Steven Joyce says while it is pleasing to see the road toll continue to come down, there are still far too many preventable deaths on New Zealand roads.

The Minister has today released the latest quarterly road toll report showing that the toll at the end of September stood at 208, compared with 278 at the end of September last year. The toll for the twelve months to the end of September was 305, compared to 357 in the same period a year earlier.

Mr Joyce says a range of factors will have contributed to the lower toll in the first nine months of the year, including ongoing safety improvements, enforcement changes, legislative changes and petrol prices.

“Of particular interest, there has been a big drop in deaths of motorcyclists and passengers, down 46 in the first three quarters of 2011.  Motorcyclists are a group the government has targeted in the Safer Journeys road safety strategy because they are disproportionately represented in the road toll.

“Quarterly reporting means we can monitor medium-term trends and look for patterns of improvement as well as problem areas in our efforts to reduce death and injury on New Zealand roads. 

“Because we’ve now seen a reasonably sustained improvement in the road toll over the last year, I have asked officials from the Ministry of Transport to start analysing the quantifiable reasons behind these reductions to see what lessons can be learnt and ensure we continue on this path.”

Mr Joyce says fewer crashes means lives are being saved and injuries prevented.

The Minister has also released the annual Ministry of Transport report, Motor Vehicle Crashes in New Zealand 2010, which records the causes of crashes.

In the 2010 calendar year, 375 people died on New Zealand roads and 14,031 were injured.

The report shows:

• Excessive speed for the conditions was a factor in 32 percent of fatal crashes in 2010. One in four of all the injury crashes Police attend involve a driver losing control on a bend.

• Young people remain disproportionately represented in crashes and young drivers made up a quarter of drivers involved in fatal crashes.

• Of the fatalities, forty five young people (between the age of 15 and 24) were passengers. This is more than any other age group.

• Motorcyclists made up 13 percent of all road deaths. Between 2006 and 2010 the number of deaths rose from 38 to 50, while motorcycle injuries increased from 1017 to 1300.

• Fatigue was a factor in 14 percent of fatal crashes.

“Through our Safer Journeys road safety strategy and action plan we are targeting all these areas. We have made major changes – introducing a zero limit for young drivers and repeat offenders, increasing penalties for dangerous driving offences including drink driving causing death, and enabling the use of alcohol interlocks in vehicles for repeat offenders,” says Mr Joyce.

“But the government and the Police can only do so much.  Personal responsibility is very important and drivers must play their part by being focused on the job at hand when they are behind the wheel.”

Both reports are available on the Ministry of Transport website: www.transport.govt.nz