Speech to the launch of Greater Wellington Regional Council's 'Last Choice' road safety campaign

Kia ora and thank you for inviting me today.

I want to acknowledge those people here today who work at the coalface of road safety.

Thank you to the police, emergency services staff and medical personnel who deal with the horrific consequences of road crashes.

Can I also acknowledge and thank those who work to prevent such tragedies - the road safety coordinators who work in our schools and communities.

And of course I acknowledge Greater Wellington Regional Council and the effort they have made to launch this campaign.

Road toll

The Last Choice campaign centres around this car which was involved in a tragic accident on Paekakariki Hill Road last year, where a young man - Richard Chambers - lost his life.

The car has been given to the police by the family in the hope that its message will prevent further tragedies.

It shows what can happen when young people make bad choices - something that still happens far too often in our region, and in New Zealand.

Every year, hundreds of New Zealanders are killed and thousands seriously injured on our roads.

The problem is especially bad amongst young people, who are more likely to be affected by speed, alcohol, drugs and distractions.

Our youth road toll is much worse than in Australia and is among the worst in the world.

Safer journeys

This is why the government has launched Safer Journeys, a 10 year strategy to cut our road toll. Some of you may have been here at Parliament a few months ago when this was launched.

Since then Cabinet has approved a plan to raise the driving age to 16 and make the restricted driving test more difficult. We want young people to graduate through the system with the maturity and skills they need to be competent drivers.

We are also looking at vehicle power restrictions for young drivers and to see whether penalties for breaching the restricted licence conditions need to be increased.

As we know, alcohol is a major road safety problem in this country. Almost a third of deaths on our roads involve drivers with alcohol and / or drugs in their system.

The government is considering a zero drink drive limit for drivers under 20 and interlock devices for repeat offenders, to prevent a vehicle being driven if the driver is over the limit.

Cabinet will also be considering the adult drink drive limit, and whether we lower this or undertake more research on this issue.

Already we've passed new laws on cellphone use while driving, drugged driving and illegal street racing.  

Better roads

Better roads will help too. Nearly $11 billion has been earmarked to develop seven major roads of National Importance across the country.

One of these is the corridor from Levin to Wellington airport, including Transmission Gully. As the local MP for Otaki I'm looking forward to safer journeys and fewer accidents on what can be a dangerous stretch of road.

Conclusion

When it comes to road safety, there are plenty of statistics we can quote to people. But the power of this campaign we are launching today is that it's visual.

This car will provide a chilling message to young people, far more effective than any speech or lecture given by a politician.

I hope this demonstration will make people stop and think about the choices we all make on the roads, and on the terrible consequences of getting it wrong.

As I've outlined, the government is working hard on bringing the road toll down. But this is an issue the whole community needs to take responsibility for.

I would like to thank Greater Wellington Regional Council for taking their share of this responsibility, and helping to spread this message.

I hope this campaign makes a real impact in our community and that we can the learn the lessons this vehicle has for us.

Thank you.