Time to rethink road safety, says campaigner

The government needs to change the way we operate our roads, says, the car review websitedogandlemon.com.

Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson, who is an outspoken road safety campaigner, says:

“The public has been more-or-less deliberately misled about the causes and cures of road deaths. For example, few people realise that around a quarter of the road toll involves trucks[1]and over one quarter involves old people[2]. And, despite what the public has been led to believe, about 80% of the road toll occurs below, not above, the speed limit.”

“It’s easy for the government to blame yobbos, because yobbos generally don’t vote. However,very old drivers pose about the same road safety risk as teenagers. The reason you almost never hear this is because old people vote in large numbers, and they’re extremely paranoid about losing their freedom. So, the police and the government often turn a blind eye to the issue.”

Matthew-Wilson claims the trucking industry effectively runs the government transport policy.

“The government is deliberately running down the rail network and instead designing the transport network around trucks and private cars. So, we have more and more trucks, and a higher and higher road toll. And, we have more and more tourists and holidaymakers crashing.”

“In tourist areas and during holidays, the volumes of traffic on our roads are too high for safety. However, instead of encouraging alternatives, such as holiday trains and buses, the government is effectively doing the opposite.”

“Obviously, the government should be encouraging tourists and holidaymakers to use passenger trains and buses. The government should also be urgently moving longhaul freight off roads and onto freight trains.”

Matthew-Wilson says the government must bear the ultimately responsibility for the rising road toll.

“A few years ago the government was crowing about the record low road toll, as if their road safety policies had worked. In fact, the best evidence suggests the record low road toll of those years was simply the result of the economic downturn that followed the 2008 global financial crisis. This is because the road toll tends to go up and down with the economy. That’s yet another fact that the government failed to share with the country.”

Matthew-Wilson adds there's also a strong link between petrol prices and the road toll[3].

"When petrol is cheap, the high-risk groups start using cars for joyriding rather than just transport. This is a perfect setup for a fatal accident."

Matthew-Wilson believes the police are wasting their time asking motorists to drive safely.

"The high risk groups: drunks, motorcyclists, tourists, very young drivers and very old drivers, are effectively immune to road safety slogans; they already think they're driving okay. They may even agree with road safety messages, but they don't believe it applies to them."

Matthew-Wilson believes the police would be better lobbying government to improve our 'Third World roads and cars'.

"Stern lectures from the police have clearly changed nothing. Nor has issuing millions of tickets to ordinary drivers who drifted a few Ks over the speed limit. What does work is changing the cars and the roads, so silly behavior doesn't kill innocent people."

A study by Monash University of the effectiveness of roadside fencing and median barriers[4]concluded that: “reductions of up to 90% in death and serious injury can be achieved, with no evidence of increased road trauma for motorcyclists.”

[1] In 2014 (the latest available figures),, 67 people died and a further 772 were injured in road crashes involving trucks. This was 23% of all deaths and 7% of all reported injuries on our roads.

Source: NZTA

[2] In 2014 motorists over 60 made up 83 of the 294 total fatalities for that year.

Source: NZTA

[3] According to a major study, every 10% rise in fuel costs leads to a 1.5% decline in crashes, although the effects are most clearly shown after about nine months.

Safer Roads Owing to Higher Gasoline Prices: How Long It Takes
Guangqing Chi, PhD, Willie Brown, MS, Xiang Zhang, PhD, and Yanbing Zheng, PhD, 2015.

[4] Flexible Barrier Systems Along High-Speed Roads: A Lifesaving Opportunity

Magnus Larsson, Nimmi Candappa & Bruce Corben,

Monash University Accident Research Centre, 2003

ENDS

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