Media release - Candor Trust

No lime-light due to LTNZ over increasing toll

Hyundai and it's partner in Press release crimes (LTNZ) both need to get to grips with the reality, before staging cat fights over where credit is due for alleged improvements in the road toll.

The introduction of new frontal impact standards which is calculated to have saved an extra 30 lives a year, completely explains small reductions in NZ's excessively high fatalitity rate of late. ESP also saves a few privileged lives.

But NZ's skyrocketing crash rate (numbers up 40% since 2000), and the fact there are now 300 more serious injuries yearly as a result, has pushed social costs crashes incur on the economy from 3 billion in 2000 to 3.5 billion.

The 2010 goal is 2.15 billion, which would mean policy has ordered the death and injury rate down to match by 2010 the best countries, a decade earlier. The human and cost burden of epidemic serious injury crashes have road safety rocketing backward in NZ.

Candor Trust supports the statement of Mr Eustace from Hyundai when he said LTNZ should credit others where any real reductions have occurred, and stop trying to grab the limelight for itself.

But Candor strongly questions why either Hyundai and LTNZ believe anyone should be fighting to take credit for a road toll static for 5 years, and one that is 100% worse per capita than the worlds best performers.

In 1990 NZ was only 30% worse off, but now we are truly "bush" due to serious sustained underinvestment in a safe roading infrastructure. The recent decline in safety relative to elsewhere is easily traceable to incompetence at LTNZ.

When New Zealand is third in the world for killing teenagers and in the top 3 of 29 IRTAD Nations for road deaths of under 15 year olds per 1000 head, the argument ought never be over who should step into the limelight and take a bow.

It should instead be over which CEO or corporation is dis-established. Any other debate would show disrespect to all the lives destroyed by bad policy and bad practice LTNZ has historically generated.

"All we hear from LTNZ is endless publicity about how its speeding campaigns, drink-driving blitzes and so on are doing the job ... " Mr Eustace from Hyundai said.

The statistics tell a completely different story say Candor Trust. Independent reviews like Breen's and the Duignan report show incontrovertible campaign failure.

Unsurprising, given that half of LTNZ campaigns would appear to be about preserving an image of success - even as injury and death tolls are swelling.

LTNZ's constant PR moves to tart up the truth or transparent efforts to have others do so, are an indecent affront to all innocent people today and yet to be represented in NZ's forest of white crosses.

The damage control budget and especially in the election year would better be spent on fatigue and drug driving awareness initiatives. Positive spin about campaigns might help with winning media awards but it doesn't axe tolls.

ENDS

© Scoop Media