New Zealand On Track For Lowest Road Toll In A Decade

Tuesday, 31 December 2024, 3:27 pm
Article: RNZ

New Zealand is on track for its lowest road toll in a decade.

The Ministry of Transport's provisional annual toll for 2024 sits at 290, well over 10 percent lower than the 341 deaths recorded on New Zealand's roads last year and almost two-thirds down on the deadliest ever year of 843 in 1973.

The last time fewer than 300 road fatalities were recorded in a single year was 2014, when 292 people died.

AA spokesperson Dylan Thomsen said 2024 was looking like a historic year for road safety.

"There's only been three times in the last 50 years that New Zealand has had less than 300 people killed on the roads and, on a per capita basis, we're looking at probably the lowest rate of road deaths in a century. So this is really a historic year in terms of road safety in New Zealand," Thomsen said.

"But at the same time, it's kind of ending on quite a sour note.

"We had a horrific start to the year in January with a really high number of people dying and then through most of the year we've had month after month of very few fatal crashes by New Zealand standards. And then at the end of the year we've gone back up again and December has been a really horrific month, so it's been a historic year overall, but it's ending in a bad way."

It was too early to know for sure what was behind the drop in road deaths, but tough economic times and increased police enforcement were likely contributors, Thomsen said.

"We have seen a really big push by police this year in terms of enforcement, particularly around speed and drunk driving, and we think that is likely to have made quite a difference and the economy and tougher times traditionally has to lower numbers of road deaths as well historically so we think that is probably playing a part," he said.

"And I'd like to think that maybe we're seeing some behaviour change with some people heeding some of those safety messages and making some better choices out on the roads."

There was still plenty of work to be done with New Zealand having one of the poorest road safety records among developed nations.

"From the AA's perspective, we definitely think that New Zealand should be having well less than 300 people lose their lives every year - New Zealand is capable of that.

"Essentially, our road safety record is traditionally one of the worst in the developed world, and if we just had the same rate of road deaths as Australia, we would be having well less than 300 people die each year and I think we're capable of that.

"But it takes a combination of actions. We need to keep having the government doing work to improve the quality and the safety of the roads that people are travelling on. We need that sustained high level of police enforcement that we've seen over the last year - we need to keep on pushing that and making sure that we are out there catching particularly the drunk drivers, drugged drivers and those really high-risk groups.

"And then it's really about people's own behaviour and we've got to just keep keep working on people, changing the culture around driving in New Zealand, and people actually taking it a bit more seriously and not treating it so casually."

© Scoop Media

RNZ

New Zealand's public broadcaster, providing comprehensive NZ news and current affairs, specialist audio features and documentaries.

Radio New Zealand is a Crown entity established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. Radio New Zealand News are vital elements in our programming, providing impartial news and information to New Zealanders every day. Radio New Zealand (RNZ) provides listeners with exciting and independent radio programmes in accordance with the Radio New Zealand Charter.

Contact RNZ

• Website - www.radionz.co.nz
• Twitter - @rnz_news
• Facebook
• Link - Contact RNZ