National Road Safety Committee welcomes Road Safety to 2010 strategy

New Zealand's top road safety advisory panel has welcomed this morning's release of the government's Road Safety to 2010 strategy.

"We have worked with the government to design the package. We strongly believe we must keep moving forward if we are to spare more New Zealand families from the awful pain and suffering of road crashes, and this strategy provides the direction we need as a country to do that," said David Wright, Chairman of the National Road Safety Committee (NRSC).

The NRSC is comprised of Police Commissioner Rob Robinson, Director of Land Transport Safety David Wright, Transit New Zealand Chief Executive Robin Dunlop, ACC Chief Executive Garry Wilson, Secretary for Transport Alastair Bisley, Transfund New Zealand Chief Executive Wayne Donnelly and Local Government New Zealand Acting CEO Kinsley Sampson.

The NRSC helped to develop the final 2010 strategy in response to submissions received on an earlier consultation draft and the need for a balanced approach to road safety with a mix of engineering, education and enforcement programmes.

Ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the strategy will help to ensure that its goals are achieved, and that the strategy remains relevant to trends in road trauma.

Mr Wright said the strategy's goals of no more than 300 road deaths and 4,500 hospitalisations per year by 2010 could be achieved by implementing new measures in all three of those areas.

"These goals are ambitious but they are also achievable. Meeting them will not be easy. It will require the introduction of several new measures, the enhancement of existing programmes and the commitment of government agencies and New Zealand communities. But it will also require a commitment from New Zealand drivers - a commitment to behave sensibly, to accept that they have an individual responsibility to contribute to road safety and to recognise that other road users also have rights."

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