Too many lives lost on the roads again in 2021

In News•3 Minutes•By NZ Trucking magazine•January 13, 2022

There were 319 deaths caused by crashes on New Zealand roads last year, according to the AA.

It is little improvement from the year before, which saw 320 people killed in crashes.

AA policy and research manager Simon Douglas said in the last 60 years, there has only been three when New Zealand has had less than 300 annual road deaths.

“Even with the pandemic and lockdowns of the last two years we have sadly and disappointingly not been able to get back below that mark of 300 annual road deaths,” he said.

While the country appears to have turned around the trend of increasing road deaths that took place from 2013 to 2017, we could and should be doing better in terms of road safety.

“Some people would point out that the population and amount of vehicles on the roads have grown in the last decade, which will have an impact on crash numbers and that’s true,” Douglas said.

“But if we look across to Australia they were on track to have about 4.4 road deaths per 100,000 people this year while New Zealand had 6.3. There is no reason why our roads shouldn’t be as safe as Australia’s and if they were we would have had nearly 100 less deaths this year.”

The AA continues to call for:

  • Upgrading high-risk roads and key highways with barriers and other safety improvements.
  • Investing more in road maintenance to keep roads up to standard.
  • Speed reductions by authorities being targeted in high-risk areas and fitting the road environment.
  • Bringing the number of alcohol tests back up to previous levels and introducing roadside drug testing.
  • Ensuring all high-risk drink drivers are getting alcohol interlocks in their cars.
  • Getting more people into safer vehicles.
  • Ensuring young people are getting the support they need to learn to drive safely.

Past AA Research Foundation work has shown that while half of fatal crashes involve extreme and reckless behaviour, the other half involve everyday people having a momentary lapse or mistake.

“No one is perfect and we could all find at least one thing to do better on the roads this year,” Douglas said.

“For some drivers that might be making sure they keep a bigger following distance, for others it might be slowing their speed to the conditions, or it could be not using your phone behind the wheel or not carrying on driving when they are feeling tired.”