New Zealand’s Associate Transport Minister Craig Foss has released the Safer Journeys third Action Plan for 2016-2020.

The Safer Journeys Action Plan is the third and final plan under the Safer Journeys Strategy to 2020.

“Safer Journeys is about creating a safe system — safer roads and roadsides, safer speeds, safer vehicles and safer road use. Under the first two Actions Plans the Government rolled out powerful advertising campaigns, lowered blood alcohol levels, installed hundreds of kilometres of rumble strips and median barriers, and mandated electronic stability control for light vehicles,” Mr Foss said.

“These targeted measures have demonstrably reduced deaths and serious injuries, particularly those relating to alcohol and young people, but our road toll is still much, much too high.”

“The third Action Plan is an opportunity to refresh the Government’s approach to road safety and ensure initiatives are targeted to the areas of greatest risk and disproportionate harm, based on the latest data. It’s also an opportunity to embrace and enable the use of new technology.”

The third Action Plan is focussed on:

  • Enabling smart and safe choices by providing road users with the right information at the right time
  • Providing a safer system for motorcyclists using education, information, training and emerging technology
  • Ensuring roads and roadsides support safer travel by focusing initiatives on high risk roads
  • Investigating further use of proven and emerging safety technologies in vehicles entering the New Zealand fleet

Alongside the Safer Journeys third Action Plan, Mr Foss also released a report looking at why some crashes result in fatalities.

“Why Do People Die in Road Crashes, commissioned by the Ministry of Transport, provides some valuable insights into the causes of road trauma,” Mr Foss said.

“The report found that about 30 per cent of fatalities in 2014 could have been avoided if the person had been wearing a seatbelt or helmet — what an incredibly disappointing and unnecessary waste of life.

“Road safety is everyone’s responsibility. We have the power to protect ourselves and other road users by wearing a seatbelt or helmet and driving to the conditions at safe speeds.”

The Safer Journeys third Action Plan 2016-2020 is available at: http://www.saferjourneys.govt.nz/action-plans/2016-2020-action-plan

The Why Do People Die in Road Crashes report is available at: http://www.transport.govt.nz/TERNZ-Report-Why-people-die-in-crashes