Ministry of Transport
 

2002 - Survey

Prepared by the Research & Statistics section of the Land Transport Safety Authority.
Fieldwork conducted for the LTSA by National Research Bureau Ltd.

Introduction

The New Zealand Public Attitudes Survey has been undertaken periodically since 1974, and annually since 1994, to evaluate attitudes to road safety issues, primarily alcohol-impaired driving and speed. 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 2002, 1645 people were interviewed, including 1439 who held drivers' licences. Further details of the sample and methodology may be found in Appendix A.


Overview

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 is gradually losing currency, as the following graph shows.

Fig 1: People who agreed that there isn't much chance of an accident if careful when…

Public support for alcohol, speed and seatbelt enforcement has increased after tracking at a high level for several years and is now very strong. The percentage of New Zealanders who agree that enforcement helps to lower the road toll has now risen to 83% for compulsory breath testing (CBT), 82% for speed enforcement and 90% for seatbelt enforcement.

This is the first survey since the State Highway Patrol became fully operational over the whole country. Public awareness of the presence and value of enforcement has increased in 2001 and 2002 after remaining steady for a number of years. More people now think they are likely to be caught when drink-driving, speeding or travelling without a seatbelt. This improved awareness is apparent across a range of questions about various aspects of enforcement. One key question illustrating this is shown in Fig 2.

Fig 2: People who agreed that the risk of being caught is small when…


General attitudes to road safety and enforcement

  1. Only 5% of New Zealanders describe road travel in this country as ‘very safe’. A further 74% describe it as ‘fairly safe’. This perception has changed little over the last four years.
  2. Public support for Police enforcement is high. Over half (56%) think Police effort into catching people breaking road safety laws should be increased, and a further 39% want it maintained at current levels.
  3. Support for harsher penalties for road safety offences has reduced in recent years since new vehicle impoundment and roadside suspension rules were introduced. In 2002, 51% of New Zealanders said penalties should be kept the same and 38% wanted increased penalties. Very few people were in favour of reducing the severity of penalties (4%).
  4. Prior to the introduction of an intensive advertising and enforcement campaign in 1995, 60% of New Zealand adults thought that the amount of road safety advertising should be increased. In May 2002, 44% thought advertising should be increased further and 49% thought advertising levels should remain at current levels.
  5. Only 9% of New Zealanders describe the design and standard of the roads they normally use as ‘very safe’. A further 75% think their usual roads are fairly safe. Nearly one sixth (15%) describe the roads they normally use as ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ unsafe. This figure ranges between 9% and 21% for residents of all regions except Northland and Gisborne, where 40% and 28% of residents respectively think the roads they use are unsafe.


Alcohol-impaired driving

  1. Recognition of the risk of drink-driving is being maintained at a high level. Few New Zealanders now think ‘there is not much chance of an accident when driving after drinking if you are careful’ (see Fig 1). Men are less likely than women to acknowledge the risk of drink-driving. Those least likely to recognise the risk of drink-driving were Gisborne residents (17% of these agreed with the above statement) and males aged 20 to 24 (14%).
  2. Peer pressure and social drinking are strong influences. 41% of men and 31% of women agree that it is difficult to drink less than the group when drinking with friends. More than one third say it is hard to keep track of what they drink on social occasions.
  3. The percentage of people who admit to having driven while slightly intoxicated during the 12 months before the survey has fallen in the last seven years, from 30% of all drivers (and 41% of males) in 1995 to 24% (34% of males) in 2002.
  4. People who said they'd driven while slightly intoxicated were more likely than others to say they enjoyed driving fast, and to have had a speeding ticket in the last year.
  5. 64% of New Zealanders think our drink-driving laws are very or quite effective at reducing the road toll.
  6. Almost forty percent of New Zealanders favour a lower blood alcohol limit. 27% think the limit should be lowered to 50mg/100ml and a further 12% think it should be lowered to zero. There is very little support for raising the legal limit. Public opinion on this issue has remained essentially unchanged over the last eight years.


Compulsory breath testing

  1. More people now think that compulsory breath testing (CBT) helps lower the road toll. 83% of New Zealand adults now agree with this statement, an increase from 77% in 2001 and 74% in 2000 (see Fig 3).

    Fig 3: People who agreed that CBT helps lower the road toll

  2. People are more aware of seeing checkpoints. The number of people who say that they seldom see checkpoints except during blitzes has decreased from 66% in the last few years to 62% in 2002. More than a third think they can tell where checkpoints will be, and 28% still think they can avoid checkpoints if they see them early.
  3. Sixteen percent of New Zealanders think that some people stopped at checkpoints are not tested even when they are over the limit, but 92% of those who had been stopped at a checkpoint in the last year reported that they were asked to talk into a breath testing device.
  4. The number of people who would expect to be stopped and tested if drink-driving on a major highway has increased from 37% in 2001 to 43% in 2002 (see Fig 4). Only 14% of New Zealanders would expect to be stopped and breath-tested if drink-driving on a rural road. This is low compared with the perceived risk of being caught in a city (59%), on a major highway (43%) or in a small town (28%).

    Fig 4: Chance of being stopped and tested if drink-driving in a…

  5. Perceptions of the risk of being caught drink-driving at night has increased over the last five years. The percentage of people who thought that being caught if drink-driving between midnight and 2am was ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ rose from 31% in 1995 to 45% in 2002, and from 44% to 54% in the 10pm-midnight slot over the same period (see Fig 5). There was a similar increase from 17% in 1995 to 26% in 2002 for the 2am-8am time slot. More people than in previous years think they would be likely to be stopped and breath tested if they were drink-driving during the day (15% in 2002 compared to 10% in 1995-2000 and 7% in 2001).

    Fig 5: Chance of being stopped and tested if drink-driving during…

  6. Just over 40% of licensed drivers (50% of drivers aged between 20 and 50) reported having been stopped at an alcohol checkpoint during the preceding 12 months. Of these, 92% remembered being asked to speak into a passive alcohol sensor. (Respondents were shown a picture of the sensor).


Speed

  1. The attitude that speeding is not risky if the driver is careful is gradually losing popularity (see Fig 1). Despite a decrease in recent years, 15% of New Zealanders still think there isn’t much chance of an accident when speeding if you are careful. This view is most common among men (21% hold this view) and in the 15-19 year age group (22%).
  2. One third of drivers said that they enjoyed driving fast on the open road. This has shown a significant decrease for the first time in several years, from 38% of drivers in 2001 to 33% in 2002. Overall, 38% of male drivers and 28% of females said that they enjoy driving fast on the open road.
  3. The number of people who agree that enforcing the speed limit helps to reduce the road toll has increased, from 76% in the last three years to 82% in 2002. People are more aware of speed enforcement than in the past. One third (33%) of adults said that the risk of being caught speeding is small, compared to around 40% in previous years.
  4. The majority of New Zealanders (85%) think that speed limits for the roads they normally use are about right. Support for retaining speed limits at current levels is high (77% for open roads and 83% for 50 km/h zones). Fewer people than previously think that these limits should be raised (17% and 13% for open and urban roads respectively, compared to 22% and 16% in 2001). Since these questions were first asked in 1995, there has been in a gradual decline in support for raising speed limits.
  5. Most people find extremely high speeds unacceptable. 87% describe automatic loss of licence for drivers caught speeding at 150 km/h on the open road as fair or very fair. Speeding in an urban area is regarded equally unfavourably; 90% support loss of licence for speeding at 90 km/h in a 50 km/h zone.
  6. Attitudes are also becoming tougher towards people speeding at less extreme speeds. Nearly half (48%) now think that loss of licence is fair for travelling at 130km/h on the open road, up from 44% in 2001 and 35% back in 1995.
  7. Almost two thirds (65%) of New Zealanders think automatic loss of licence for three speeding tickets in a year is fair or very fair.
  8. Many people would like to see additional 60 km/h and 80 km/h speed limits for some roads. Demand for this has dropped from 64% in 1995 to 53% in 2001 and 2002, as these speed limits have been introduced over the last five years.
  9. One sixth (16%) of all drivers reported receiving at least one speeding ticket in the previous year. One in nine women (11%) and one in five men (21%) reported receiving a speeding ticket in the year preceding the survey. Drivers in their twenties were most likely to report having had a speeding ticket, with nearly one quarter (24%) of drivers aged 20-24 having received a ticket.
  10. The number of people who expect to get a ticket if passing a Police officer (with no speed camera) at speeds over 115 km/h has increased since May 2001 (see Fig 6). One third (33%) would now expect to get at a ticket at 115 km/h, compared to 27% in 2001. 62% would expect a ticket at 120 km/h and 78% at 125 km/h (54% and 71% in 2001 respectively). This is a significant improvement from previous years.
  11. However, expected ticketing rates are still lower for Police officers than for speed cameras. There are still 14% of New Zealanders who do not think they are likely to receive a ticket if passing a Police officer at 130 km/h.

    Fig 6: Perceived chance of receiving a speeding ticket if passing a Police officer or a speed camera at selected speeds (percentage saying ‘high’ or ‘very high’)


Speed cameras

  1. Most New Zealanders (61%) agree that the use of speed cameras helps lower the road toll and a similar number agree that speed cameras are operated fairly. These public perceptions have changed little over the last seven years, though both became slightly more positive in 1998 during the trial of hidden speed cameras and the surrounding publicity.
  2. Nearly one third (30%) of New Zealanders think that speed cameras should always be in full view. 15% think speed cameras should always be hidden, with the majority of people supporting a mixture of the two modes.
  3. Sixty-five percent of New Zealanders rate the chances of getting a speeding ticket if they pass a speed camera at 115 km/h at ‘high’ or ‘very high’. 86% would expect a ticket at 120 km/h and 97% at 130 km/h. Only 30% think they would get a ticket if they passed a camera at 110km/h (see Fig 6 above).


General enforcement and compliance

  1. Only 29% of New Zealanders think Police are likely to stop drivers for traffic offences other than drink driving or speeding. This has slowly increased in recent years, from 23% when this question was first asked in 1997.
  2. Most New Zealanders support vehicle impoundment for disqualified or repeated unlicensed driving. 89% said this was fair or very fair.
  3. 95% of drivers say that they always or mostly carry their licence while driving a private vehicle. Most drivers (81%) were already doing this in 1998, before licence carriage became mandatory.


Safety belts and child restraints

  1. Almost all New Zealanders (96%) agree that safety belts are effective in reducing the road toll.
  2. Public perceptions of the levels of safety belt and child restraint enforcement have improved for the first time in several years.
  3. Attitudes to enforcement are more positive. 90% of New Zealanders now agree that enforcing the use of safety belts helps lower the road toll. This is an increase from 86% over the previous three years.
  4. Although the level of restraint enforcement is still thought to be fairly low, this is changing. More people now think they are likely to be caught if not wearing a safety belt. In May 2002, 35% said they expected to be caught if not wearing a safety belt when driving, compared to 28% in 2001 (see Fig 7). Figures for front seat passengers are similar (34% in 2002 and 27% in 2001).

    Fig 7: Perceived risk of an adult being caught if not wearing a seatbelt when…

  5. Enforcement of safety belt use for rear seat passengers is still perceived as very low – only one in seven people (14%) thought they were likely to be caught if travelling in a rear seat without a safety belt.
  6. Enforcement of child restraint use is seen as more stringent than for adult safety belt use. 46% (up from 40% in 2001) think there is a high chance of being stopped if travelling with an unrestrained child in the front seat, but only 28% (24% in 2001) if the child is in the back seat.
  7. One third of New Zealanders still think penalties for not wearing a safety belt are not very severe. The perception that penalties are not very severe has become less widespread in recent years, from 48% in 1997 to 33% in 2002.
  8. Reported safety belt use has continued to increase over recent years. Only 4% say they often or always drive without a safety belt on short trips, compared with 6% in 2001 and 17% in 1995. The number of drivers who say they seldom wear a safety belt even when travelling on the open road has fallen in recent years, from 10% in 1995 to only 1% in 2002 (see Fig 6). Similarly, only 2% now report regularly driving around town without a safety belt, compared to 4% in 2001 and 13% in 1995.
  9. Reported safety belt use by passengers is also continuing to increase. Only 8% of New Zealanders now report that they often or always travel without a safety belt when they are a passenger in the back seat, compared to 11% in 2001 and 19% in 1995. For front seat passenger travel this figure has dropped to 3% in 2002 compared with 11% in 1995. These trends are consistent with the increase in safety belt wearing rates measured by LTSA observational surveys over this period. (LTSA observational surveys of restraint use, reported in Motor Accidents in New Zealand 2000, LTSA 2001, and on the MoT website.) This decrease was reported both for open road and around-town passenger travel.
  10. Males and people under 40 were most likely to report regularly driving or travelling as a passenger without a safety belt. People who regularly travelled without a safety belt were more likely than others to admit to having driven while intoxicated.

    Fig 8: Percentage who often/ always fail to wear a safety belt when…


Roading

A set of supplementary questions on road engineering and design was asked for the first time in 2002.

  1. In answer to the question ‘To achieve higher levels of road safety, how important would it be to improve road engineering and design?’, 67% said ‘very important’ and a further 29% said ‘fairly important’. Northland residents place a particularly high value on this, with 82% saying it was ‘very important’.
  2. Respondents were asked a series of questions designed to prioritise the importance of safety engineering improvements to different types of roads. Open road state highways emerged as the highest priority overall, followed by motorways, other open roads and major roads in towns and cities. Residential streets emerged as the lowest overall priority for safety engineering improvements.
  3. Respondents were also asked ‘how high a priority for road safety is making the roads better for pedestrians and for cyclists?’. Safety improvements aimed at cyclists emerged as a slightly higher priority than those for pedestrians. Overall, making the roads safer for pedestrians and cyclists was lower priority than improving the open road state highways and motorways but higher than other open roads and urban roads.

Conclusion

Good progress is being made in improving road user behaviours and related attitudes. Increasingly, New Zealanders are accepting that drink-driving and speeding are major contributors to the road toll and carry risks for the individual. There is increasing public awareness of alcohol and speed enforcement.

This survey is part of the LTSA’s 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.

 Appendix A | Appendix B

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