Actions so far

Since the launch of New Zealand's Safer Journeys strategy the government has progressed actions for improving the safety of young drivers and motorcyclists, and to target drink drivers as well as other high-risk drivers.

Many of these actions have been progressed through the Land Transport (Road Safety and other Matters) Amendment Act 2011.

Find out more about the Act here.

Safer Journeys: Changing the give way rules

In September 2010, Cabinet confirmed a change to the give way rules. This is an action from Safer Journeys: New Zealand’s Road Safety Strategy to 2020.

Read Transport Minister Steven Joyce's announcement on changing the give way rules.

The NZ Transport Agency is currently consulting on changes to the give way rules.

Find out more about the consultation on the NZ Transport Agency website.

Safer Journeys: Motorcycle and moped safety

In September 2010, Cabinet agreed to a package of measures to improve motorcycle and moped safety focusing on rider training and licensing. These complete the first actions of Safer Journeys: New Zealand’s Road Safety Strategy to 2020. Actions in this package are:

• Strengthen motorcycle licence tests and make them more motorcycle specific
• Remove the option for motorcyclists to complete an approved driving course (Defensive Driving or Street Talk) to reduce their time on a restricted motorcycle licence and introduce an alternative competency based training and assessment option to the standard testing regime
• Require all novice motorcyclists, regardless of age, to be subject to the same minimum time requirements at the restricted licence stage
• Require all moped riders to complete a moped-specific basic handling skills test along with a motorcycle learner theory test to obtain a new Class 6M licence
• Introduce a power-to-weight restriction for novice motorcycle riders
• Develop appropriate refresher training for returning riders and encourage uptake
• Promote the benefits of high-visibility and protective clothing.

Read Transport Minister Steven Joyce's announcement on improving motorcyle and moped safety.

Many of these proposals were included in the draft Land Transport (Driver Licensing) Amendment Rule [2011] which was consulted on by the NZ Transport Agency in 2010.

More information is available on the NZ Transport Agency website.

Safer Journeys: Alcohol Package

In July 2010, Cabinet approved a number of actions for reducing the impact of alcohol on our roads as part of the first steps in implementing Safer Journeys.

Actions in the package are:

• Lower the legal youth drink drive limit from 0.03 blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to zero (as part of this action we will also introduce infringement penalties for youth drink driving with a BAC between 0 and 0.03).
• Enable the introduction of alcohol interlocks for repeat drink drive offenders and offenders with very high BAC.
• Enable the introduction of a zero drink drive limit for repeat drink drive offenders.
• Conduct further research on the level of risk posed by drivers with a BAC between 0.05 and 0.08.

Cabinet has also agreed to the following action for improving penalties:

• Strengthen the penalties for causing death.

These actions have been progressed through the Land Transport (Road Safety and other Matters) Amendment Act 2011.

Find out more about the Act here.

Read Transport Minister Steven Joyce's announcement on drink driving actions

Read Transport Minister Steven Joyce's announcement on tougher penalties

Safer Journeys: Young Driver Package

In April 2010, Cabinet approved a number of actions for improving the safety of young drivers as part of a first step in implementing Safer Journeys.

Actions in the package are:

• Raise the driving age to 16.
• Make the restricted licence test more difficult to encourage 120 hours of supervised driving practice.
• Raise public awareness of young driver crash risk.
• Improve the road safety education available to young people and increase access to it.
• Investigate vehicle power restrictions for young drivers.
• Allow approved courses (Defensive Driving and Street Talk) to be undertaken in the learner licence phase.
• Investigate whether tougher penalties should be introduced for breaches of restricted licences.

Many of these actions have been progressed through the Land Transport (Road Safety and other Matters) Amendment Act 2011.

Find out more about the Act here.

Read Transport Minister Steven Joyce’s announcement on the young driver package

Read the factsheet on young driver safety (PDF v7.0, 49.6kb)

Read the factsheet on raising the driving age (PDF v7.0, 47.1kb)