Survey 2005 | Appendix A | Appendix B
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Prepared by the Research & Statistics section of the Ministry of Transport.
Fieldwork conducted for the Ministry of Transport by National Research Bureau Ltd.
The New Zealand survey of Public Attitudes to Road Safety has been undertaken periodically since 1974, and annually since 1994, to evaluate attitudes to road safety issues, primarily alcohol-impaired driving and speed. From 1994 to 2004, the survey was conducted for the Land Transport Safety Authority; from 2005, it will be conducted by the Ministry of Transport. The fieldwork for the survey is carried out by an independent survey company.
Surveys are carried out in May and June of each year by trained interviewers who conduct face-to-face interviews in respondents' homes.
The sample is chosen to be representative of the New Zealand adult population, and includes men and women aged 15 and over from towns, cities and rural areas throughout New Zealand. In 2005, 1640 people were interviewed, including 1466 who held drivers' licences. Further details of the sample and methodology may be found in Appendix A.
2.1 Speed and alcohol are widely acknowledged as major road safety problems. The once commonly-held attitude that speeding and drink-driving are not risky, as long as the driver is careful, has gradually lost currency over the last decade, as Figure 1 shows.
Figure 1: People who agreed that there isn't much chance of an accident if careful when…
2.2 Public support for alcohol, speed and seatbelt enforcement continues to be high. Seventy-seven percent of New Zealanders said that compulsory breath testing (CBT) helps to lower the road toll; 76% agreed that enforcing the speed limit helps to lower the road toll; and 88% said that seatbelt enforcement helps to lower the road toll.
2.3 In general, while the 2005 results are still better than those of two years ago, this year's results do not show the big improvements seen in recent years.
2.4 Over the last year there has been a small but statistically significant increase in the proportion of New Zealanders who said the risk of being caught speeding, or without a seatbelt, was small. (See Figure 2). However this is still better than in 2003.
Figure 2: People who agreed that the risk of being caught is small when…
3.1 How safe is road travel in New Zealand? Ten percent of New Zealanders described road travel in this country as 'very safe'. A further 72% described it as 'fairly safe'. 16% described it as 'fairly unsafe' and 3% as 'very unsafe'. This perception of safety has remained relatively stable over the last decade.
3.2 Road safety enforcement. Overall, public support for Police enforcement remains high, though public demand for more enforcement effort has decreased as actual enforcement levels have risen over the last decade. In mid 2005, 38% said that Police effort to catch people breaking road safety laws should be increased further, and another 48% wanted that effort maintained at current levels. Twelve percent thought Police effort should be decreased. (Answers to this and other questions may not add to 100% due to rounding and in some cases because a small number of people answered 'Don't know'.)
3.3 Penalties. Support for harsher penalties for road safety offences decreased in 1999-2000, when new vehicle impoundment and roadside suspension laws were introduced. Since then it has been fairly steady. In 2005, 57% of New Zealanders said that penalties should be kept the same and 33% wanted increased penalties. Very few people (5%) were in favour of reducing the severity of penalties.
3.4 Advertising. Prior to the introduction of an intensive advertising and enforcement campaign in 1995, 60% of New Zealand adults thought that there should be more publicity and advertising about road safety. In mid 2005, 38% thought that such advertising should be increased further, and 54% thought the amount of advertising should remain at current levels.
3.5 Road design and standards. Only 10% of New Zealanders described the design and standard of the roads they normally used as 'very safe'. A further 71% thought that their usual roads are fairly safe. 18% described the roads they normally used as 'very unsafe' or 'fairly unsafe'.
3.6 Northland residents were most likely to say the design and standards of their roads was unsafe - 35% of Northland residents said the design and standard of the roads they normally used was 'very' or 'fairly' unsafe. Auckland and Gisborne residents also displayed low levels of satisfaction with their roads, with one quarter rating the roads as very or fairly unsafe.
4.1 Risk of crash. Recognition of the risk of drink-driving is being maintained at a high level. Only 8% of New Zealanders agreed that 'there is not much chance of an accident when driving after drinking if you are careful' (see Fig.1 in the Overview section above). Men were less likely than women to acknowledge the risk of drink-driving. Those least likely to recognise the risk of drink-driving were young men aged 15 to 24, women in their early twenties, and men aged 60+. Thirteen percent of people in these groups (one in seven) said that there wasn't much chance of an accident when driving after drinking.
4.2 Social influences. Peer pressure and social drinking are strong influences. More than a third said that it was hard to keep track of what they drank on social occasions, and the same proportion said it was difficult to 'go easy' when drinking with friends. Young people, Maori and people living in provincial cities and towns were most likely to agree with these statements.
4.3 Self-reported drink-driving. The percentage of people who said they had driven while slightly intoxicated during the 12 months before the survey, has fallen over the last decade. In 2005, 21% of drivers (27% of males) said they had driven while slightly intoxicated, compared with 30% (41% of males) in 1995.
4.4 People who said that they had driven while slightly intoxicated were more likely than others to say they enjoyed driving fast, and to have had a speeding ticket in the previous year.
4.5 More than 40% of those who admitted having driven while slightly intoxicated in the previous year, said it was hard to drink less than the group when drinking with friends. Half said that on social occasions it was hard to keep track of what they were drinking.
Figure 3: People who drove while slightly intoxicated in past year(self-reported)
4.6 Drink-driving enforcement. New Zealanders recognise that enforcement effort has increased over the last few years. One third (34%) said that the risk of being caught drink-driving is small, down from 43% five years ago, in mid 2001. Figure 2 (in the Overview section above) compares this trend to perceptions of being caught speeding or without a seatbelt.
4.7 Effectiveness of law. Sixty-four percent of New Zealanders agreed that our drink-driving laws were 'very' or 'quite' effective at reducing the road toll. 32% said that the drink-driving laws were not very effective, and only 3% thought that NZ's drink-driving laws had no effect on the road toll.
4.8 Penalties. The view that 'penalties for drinking and driving are not very severe even if you are caught' has become less prevalent as people become more aware of the penalties incurred for drink-driving. In 2005, 43% agreed with this statement, compared to 57% in 1998 before roadside licence suspension and vehicle impoundment were introduced.
4.9 Blood alcohol limit. Forty-two percent of New Zealanders favour a lower legal blood-alcohol limit for driving. One third (33%) said the limit should be lowered from 80mg/100ml to 50mg/100ml, and a further 9% wanted it lowered to zero. Fewer than 5% were in favour of raising the legal limit.
5.1 CBT lowers road toll. Just over three quarters (77%) of New Zealanders agreed that compulsory breath testing (CBT) helps to lower the road toll. Only 14% disagreed with this statement. The remaining 9% said they were neutral or didn't know.
5.2 Checkpoints. There was a small increase in the number of people who said that they seldom saw checkpoints except during blitzes, from 58-59% in the last two years to 63% in 2005.
5.3 Forty-two percent of drivers reported having been stopped at an alcohol checkpoint during the preceding 12 months, a slight decrease from 46% in 2004. Nine percent of all drivers reported that they had been stopped at a checkpoint 3 or more times in the last year, down from 14% in 2004.
5.4 Chance of being stopped late at night. The majority of New Zealanders thought there was a good chance of being stopped at a checkpoint if driving late at night. 55% agreed that there was a good chance of being stopped, compared to 48% when this question was first asked in 1997. 28% disagreed with the statement; the remaining 18% were neutral or said they didn't know.
5.5 Chance of being stopped, by driving situation. The number of people who would expect to be stopped and tested if they were drink-driving in a large city returned from a high of 63% in 2004 to 54%, same as in 2003. This is higher than the perceived risk of being caught in a small town (30%), on a major highway (36%), or on a rural road (13%).
5.6 Chance of being stopped, by time of day. People are becoming more aware of compulsory breath testing (see Figure 4). Fifty-six percent of New Zealanders said they would expect to be stopped and breath-tested if they were drink-driving between 10pm and midnight. This is part of a long-term increase in the awareness of alcohol enforcement. Nearly half (46%) would expect to be caught if drink-driving between midnight and 2am. Over the last two years the percentage who would expect to be stopped between 2am and 8am has increased from 24% in 2003 to 30% in 2005.
Figure 4: Chance of being stopped and tested if drink-driving during…
5.7 Avoiding checkpoints. About a third of New Zealanders (34%) said that they could tell where checkpoints would be, and about a quarter (27%) claimed to use the back streets to drive home when they might be over the limit. This has remained essentially unchanged since 1998.
5.8 In Northland, more than half the residents (59%) thought they could tell where checkpoints would be, and in Gisborne and on the West Coast, just under half (48%) said they could tell, compared to the national average of 34%. Using the back streets when over the limit was most commonly reported in Gisborne (37% of residents), but was common throughout the North Island except for Northland (19%).
5.9 Twenty five percent said they could often avoid checkpoints if they saw them early enough, a return towards the 2003 level after a low of 22% in 2004. Forty percent of 20-24 year olds, and 38% of Maori, thought they could avoid checkpoints.
Figure 5: Perceptions of alcohol checkpoints
5.10 Compulsory screening. Only one in seven (14%) New Zealanders said that some people stopped at checkpoints were not tested even when they were over the limit. The number of people who hold this view has decreased from 23% in 1995. More than one in five (22%) of young people aged 15 to 24 agreed with this view.
6.1 Risk of crash. Recognition of the risk of speeding has gradually increased over the last ten years. Only 16% of New Zealanders agreed with the statement 'there is not much chance of an accident when speeding if you are careful', compared to 24% before the campaign began in 1995 (See Figure 1 in the Overview section).
6.2 The attitude that speeding isn't risky as long as you are careful is most common among men aged 50 plus (25%) and in the 20 to 24 year age group (21%). People who said that the risk of being caught speeding or drink driving was small were also more likely to say that there wasn't much chance of an accident when speeding, as long the driver was careful.
6.3 Like driving fast. More than one-third (35%) of drivers said that they enjoy driving fast on the open road. Overall, 45% of males and 26% of females said they like driving fast on the open road. Three quarters of male drivers aged 15-24 said that they liked driving fast.
6.4 Effectiveness of enforcement. Support for speed enforcement remains high. In mid 2005, 76% of New Zealanders agreed with the statement 'enforcing the speed limit helps to lower the road toll'. 14% disagreed and 10% said they were neutral on this issue.
Figure 6: Perceptions that speed enforcement helps to lower the road toll
6.5 Risk of being caught. Awareness of speed enforcement increased markedly between 2000 and 2004, but there has been a slight reversal of the trend in 2005 (see Figure 2 in the Overview section). In mid 2005, 28% of New Zealanders agreed with the statement 'the risk of being caught speeding is small'. This is a slight increase from 25% in 2004, but is still an improvement on 33% in 2002 and 2003, and around 40% in earlier years. People aged 60 and over, and Northland residents were most likely to say that the risk of being caught was small.
6.6 Speed limits. The great majority of New Zealanders (85%) think that speed limits on the roads they normally use are about right. 5% think they are too high and 8% think they are too low.
6.7 When people were asked directly whether the 100 km/h speed limit should be raised, lowered or kept the same, 75% said they wanted it kept the same and a further 4% thought it should be lowered.
6.8 It's a similar story in urban areas - 87% of New Zealanders said that the urban 50km/h speed limit should be retained or lowered. Since these questions were first asked in 1995, there has been in a gradual decline in support for raising speed limits.
6.9 Definition of speeding. Respondents were asked 'On the open road, what speed do you consider to be speeding?' 53% named speeds of 115 or lower, as speeding. The mean speed named was just under 115 km/h. This may reflect widespread knowledge of the 10km/h enforcement tolerance applied by Police in practice. People aged under 30, men, people who said they liked driving fast and people who admitted to driving while intoxicated, were more likely than other groups to name high speeds.
6.10 Automatic licence suspension. Most New Zealanders found extremely high speeds unacceptable. Currently, any driver caught travelling at more than 50km/h above the posted speed limit will have his or her licence immediately suspended. This has wide public acceptability - 90% of New Zealanders described automatic "loss of licence" (period unspecified) for drivers caught speeding at 150 km/h on the open road (the current threshold) as fair or very fair. This is the same percentage as in 2004 and has gradually increased from 82% in 1995.
6.11 From 16 January 2006, the threshold for automatic licence suspension will be 40km/h over the posted permanent speed limit, or 140km/h on the open road. Automatic loss of licence at 140km/h is already described as fair or very fair by 75% of New Zealanders. Only 11 percent described this as unfair (the remainder were neutral or said they didn't know).
6.12 This question asked how fair or unfair it would be for a driver to 'automatically lose their licence'. The actual penalty is licence suspension for 28 days. It is possible that the 'loss of licence' referred to in the question sounds harsher than a 28-day suspension, so the responses may in fact underestimate public support for this penalty.
6.13 Speeding in an urban area was regarded equally unfavourably. 96% supported loss of licence for speeding at 100km/h in a 50km/h zone, the current threshold for automatic licence suspension. 91% supported loss of licence for speeding at 90km/h in a 50km/h zone (the new threshold), and three quarters (75%) supported automatic loss of licence at 80km/h.
6.14 Repeat offending: Sixty-two percent of New Zealanders said that it would be fair or very fair for three speeding tickets in a year to result in automatic loss of licence. 21% said it would be unfair or very unfair, and 17% were neutral on this issue or said they didn't know.
6.15 Self-reported speeding infringements. One in seven (14%) drivers reported receiving at least one speeding ticket in the previous year. This is a slight decrease from 19% of drivers in 2004. Eighteen percent of men and 11% of women reported receiving a speeding ticket in the year preceding the survey. Not surprisingly, people who said they liked driving fast were more likely (22%) to have had a speeding ticket than those who disliked driving fast (6%) or who were neutral (14%).
6.16 People living in Gisborne, Nelson, Wellington and Southland were most likely to report having received a speeding ticket (around 20% of drivers in all these regions). At the other end of the scale, only 2% of Bay of Plenty drivers and 6% of Waikato drivers had received a ticket.
6.17 Chance of receiving a ticket. The number of people who would expect to get a ticket if passing a Police officer (without a speed camera) has stabilised after a number of years of steady increase. Fewer than half (43%) thought there would be a high or very high chance of receiving a speeding ticket if they drove past a Police officer at 115 km/h (see Figure 7). Though still fairly low compared to speed cameras, this has increased from 36% in 2003 and 28% in 2000, before the advent of the State Highway Patrol.
6.18 Two thirds (67%) thought there would be a high or very high chance of receiving a speeding ticket if they drove past a Police officer without a camera at 120 km/h, compared with only 54% in 2000.
6.19 However, expected ticketing rates are still lower for Police officers than for speed cameras (see section 7.3). One in seven New Zealanders said that the change of receiving a ticket if they drove past a Police officer at 120 km/h, was low or very low. Young people aged 15-19, and people living in the South Island (except Southlanders), were most likely to say that the chance of receiving a ticket from a Police Officer was low.
Figure 7: Perceived chance of receiving a ticket if driving at 115 km/h past a…
7.1 Effectiveness of speed cameras. The majority of New Zealand adults (61%) agreed or strongly agreed with the statement 'Using speed cameras helps lower the road toll'. 27% disagreed that speed cameras help to lower the road toll and 12% were neutral on this issue.
7.2 Cameras operated fairly. Fifty-eight percent said that speed cameras were operated fairly. (24% disagreed with this statement and 18% were neutral on this issue or had no opinion).
7.3 Chance of receiving a ticket. New Zealanders are becoming more aware of speed camera enforcement. In May/ June 2005, 77% said that they would be 'likely' or 'very likely' to receive a ticket if they passed a speed camera at 115 km/h, compared with 71% in mid 2003, and 56% in 2000 (see Figure 7). 91% would have expected to receive a ticket if they passed speed camera at 120km/h.
7.4 Awareness of cameras. 34% of New Zealanders said that they often see speed cameras on their usual roads. This is the lowest level of awareness since 1995 and has decreased from 37% in 2004 and 40-42% in the years 1999 to 2003.
7.5 Hidden cameras. A new question about hidden speed cameras was added in 2004. This replaces the earlier question, which asked respondents to say to what extent they thought speed cameras should be hidden, ranging from 'Always in full view' to 'Always hidden'.
7.6 In 2004 and 2005, respondents were asked 'Do you support or oppose the use of hidden speed cameras to catch speeding drivers?'. More than twice as many people supported the use of hidden cameras, as opposed them. 59% of New Zealanders said they supported or strongly supported the use of hidden cameras, while 25% were opposed or strongly opposed, to their use. The remaining 16% said they neither supported nor opposed the use of hidden cameras.
8.1 General traffic enforcement. 33% of New Zealanders thought that a driver who breaks a traffic law (other than drink-driving or speeding) is likely to be stopped by the Police.
8.2 Vehicle impoundment. Most New Zealanders support vehicle impoundment for disqualified or repeated unlicensed driving. In both 2004 and 2005 92% said vehicle impoundment for these offences was fair or very fair, an increase from 89% in 2003 and 84% when the question was first asked in 1998.
8.3 Unmarked police vehicles for traffic enforcement: Several questions about the use of unmarked vehicles (other than speed camera vehicles) to detect offending on the roads, were asked for the first time in 2004.
8.4 In mid 2005, 87% of New Zealanders were aware of the use of unmarked vehicles for traffic enforcement. Awareness was high throughout NZ and across all age groups. It was highest among men and rural dwellers.
8.5 Those who were aware of the unmarked cars were asked to list the ways they'd heard about them. Most people (84%) had become aware that unmarked cars were being used by seeing an officer in a car, seeing someone else being ticketed and/ or hearing about them from someone else. 12% mentioned that they'd heard about the cars through the media.
8.6 Most people thought that unmarked cars were an effective and fair road safety measure. 69% said the use of unmarked cars to detect traffic offending was 'very effective' or 'quite effective' in helping to reduce the road toll. 23% thought the use of unmarked cars was not very effective, 4% said they had no effect and another 4% had no opinion.
8.7 When asked how fair or unfair it would be for a driver to have their traffic offending detected by an unmarked police car, 76% said that this would be 'fair' or 'very fair'. Only 8% said it would be 'unfair' or 'very unfair'. The remaining 15% were neutral on this issue.
9.1 Effectiveness of safety belts. As in previous years, almost all New Zealanders (95%) agreed that safety belts are effective in reducing the road toll.
9.2 Enforcement of adult safety belt use. 36% of New Zealanders thought it 'likely' or 'very likely' that they would be caught, if they drove without wearing a safety belt. This is a slight decrease from 40% in 2005 but is still higher than in 2003 (33%) and around 28% in the years 1997 - 2001.
9.3 If travelling as a front-seat passenger without a safety belt, 36% would expect to be caught by Police. Only 15% said it was likely or very likely that they would be stopped if they travelled unbelted in the rear seat.
Figure 8: Chance that an adult will be caught if not wearing a seatbelt while…
9.4 Child restraint enforcement. The general perception is that child restraint use is more rigorously enforced than adult safety belt use. 49% said there was a high chance of being stopped if travelling with an unrestrained child in the front seat, but only 30% said this would be the case if the child was in the back seat.
9.5 Effectiveness of safety belt enforcement. 88% of New Zealanders agree that enforcing the use of safety belts helps to lower the road toll. This has remained fairly constant over the last nine years.
9.6 Penalties. More than a third of New Zealanders (35%) said that the penalties for not wearing a safety belt were not very severe even if you are caught. People who said that the risk of being caught was small, were more likely than others to think that the penalties were not very severe (44%).
A set of supplementary questions on road engineering and design was asked for the first time in 2002.
10.1 Importance of roading improvements. Respondents were asked how important improving road engineering and design is for road safety. 69% said that improving road engineering and design would be 'very important' for road safety, and a further 28% said it would be 'fairly important'. These results have remained fairly stable over the last three years.
10.2 Roading priorities. Respondents were asked a series of questions designed to prioritise the importance of safety engineering improvements to different types of road. As in previous years, open road state highways emerged as the highest priority overall. They were followed by motorways, other open roads and major roads in towns and cities. Residential streets received the lowest priority rating for safety engineering improvements.
10.3 Pedestrians and cyclists. Respondents were also asked 'how high a priority for road safety is making the roads better for pedestrians and for cyclists?' Similar priority ratings were given to safety improvements aimed at pedestrians and cyclists. Making the roads safer for both pedestrians and cyclists was accorded similar priority to motorway improvements.
Over the last decade, good progress has been made in improving road-user behaviour and related attitudes. Increasingly, New Zealanders have accepted that drink-driving and speeding are major contributors to the road toll and carry risks for the individual.
This survey is part of the suite of tools used to evaluate progress in road safety. Along with other measures, including surveys of road-user behaviour, tracking of responses to advertising, enforcement data, and of course crash outcome data, the public attitudes survey contributes to the evidence-based evaluation of road safety programmes.
