Summary of submissions

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Executive Summary

More than 1,500 submissions were received on the Safer Journeys discussion document (general public about 1,400 and stakeholders almost 130). In addition, more than 1,200 members of the general public and almost 20 key stakeholders have ranked the 62 initiatives outlined in the discussion document. This is a much higher number of submissions than was received on the Road Safety to 2010 strategy (about 800).

Ranking of initiatives

Some of the most controversial initiatives received strong support from submitters (ie they were highly ranked), including initiatives about lowering the legal Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) limit, raising the driving age and changing the give way rule. A few initiatives gained high support from submitters but are not strongly supported by policy and research, like the introduction of compulsory third party insurance (ranked 1st).

In general, submitters placed more emphasis on initiatives that fall within the dimension of Safe Road Use than on roading, vehicle, or speed initiatives. This might indicate that submitters are more focussed on the driver, rather than the other three elements of the safe system.

General comment on the discussion document

The following comments were made:

• Vision: The vision for road safety is not strong enough; there should be a more ambitious long-term vision and road safety targets.
• Safe system: Strong support from stakeholders for a safe system approach.
• Priority areas: Walking/cycling and fatigue should be areas of high priority.
• Funding: For the proposed initiatives to be successful, the government will need to ensure that the necessary resources, including funding, be made available.
• Focus on motorised road transport: The discussion document is too focussed on a “roading business as usual approach.” It “fails to consider cycling, walking and passenger transport as being integral parts of the system.”
• Focus on the driver: We need to raise the competence of drivers and change New Zealand’s negative driving culture through enhanced training. Education programmes were also requested: “[The driver] is where all road safety programmes must start. A competent driver will always adjust their driving according to the vehicle they are driving and to the standard of the road they are driving on.”
• Enforcement and compliance: A lack of focus on enforcement and compliance was mentioned throughout the different priority areas. Submitters thought that repeat offenders especially should be penalised more rigorously.

Comment on discussion document initiatives

• Alcohol and drugs: A significant number of general public submitters emphasised the wider problems caused by alcohol and drugs and wanted actions such as restricting access to alcohol and drugs, placing more responsibility on people or organisations that supply alcohol, and providing treatment for alcoholics and addicts.
• Young drivers: There was strong support for raising the driving age, extending the learner licence period and making the restricted licence test harder to encourage more supervised driving practice.
• Roads and roadsides: There was strong support in the submissions for changing the give way rule for turning traffic. Submitters were also particularly concerned about high risk rural roads.
• Speed: Many general public submitters commented that speed is not the underlying problem: “There is too much focus on speeding and not enough on good driving.” Training, education and driving to the conditions were mentioned as more important than lowering speed limits.
• Motorcycling: The most popular initiative overall was improved rider training and licensing, with many additional comments regarding making professional training more widely available or even compulsory.
• Vehicles: Submitters commented that the focus needs to be on the driver rather than the vehicle. Too much technology or other insulating factors would mean greater risk taking by drivers.
• Walking and cycling: Improving the walking and cycling infrastructure was mentioned frequently.
• Fatigue: There was support for this priority area with the roadside stopping places and information initiatives receiving the most support.
• Distraction: Although there was strong support for this priority area, submitters were concerned about enforcement as a response.
• Restraints: There was strong support for bringing the New Zealand child restraint laws in line with international best practice.
• Older New Zealanders: All initiatives were supported, though the education and engineering approaches were especially popular.
• Education: A majority of general public submitters thought that there is not enough emphasis on road safety education.