Mistakes on the road are inevitable, but deaths and serious injuries aren't

Friday, 7 January 2022

It’s sparked a plea from police to those yet to get home from their holidays.

OPINION: The tragedy of lives lost and families torn apart from road crashes has again been thrust into the spotlight, with 17 people killed on our roads over the holiday period. In the year 2021, there were 320 lives lost on the roads – nearly a person every day.

These losses have a devastating impact on families and communities. For every person killed on our roads, about seven sustain serious injuries, many of which are life-long and debilitating.

The question is, why isn’t this massive public health issue in the spotlight throughout the year, not just during the holidays or after a “bad weekend” or a high-profile crash? Why, for that matter, do we insist on referring to the people who are killed and seriously injured in crashes as our “road toll”, as if their lives and limbs are the price we’re all willing to pay for the ability to move around?

It’s time that, as a country, we stopped accepting that a certain amount of death and serious injury is just the price we pay for our mobility. We need to move past the whole idea of a “road toll” paid in human lives. We don’t accept that hundreds of deaths are inevitable with Covid-19, or that thousands of serious injuries each year are just part of air travel, so why is it any different on the roads?

We should stop accepting that a certain amount of death and serious injury is just the price we pay for our mobility, writes Nicole Rosie. (File photo)

Safer speeds have a big role to play in making our roads safer, writes Nicole Rosie. (File photo)

* New strategy aims to reduce number of road deaths by 40 per cent

* Why we should set our sights on zero road deaths

Nicole Rosie, chief executive of Waka Kotahi: “Road to Zero is about moving our mindset to say ‘no more’ to deaths and serious injuries on the road.”

New Zealand’s Road to Zero strategy is based on the belief that no-one deserves to die or be seriously injured on our roads, even when they make mistakes. The strategy adopts a long-term vision of no deaths or serious injuries on our roads by 2050. Crucially, it also includes an interim target for 2030 – to reduce deaths and serious injuries by 40 per cent compared to 2018 levels.

In real terms, reaching that target would mean reducing annual road deaths to no more than 227, and serious injuries to no more than 1560 by 2030. To put that in context, 318 people died and about 2200 were seriously injured in 2020. And while that represents a 16 per cent reduction in casualties compared to 2018, we have a long way to go to reach the 2030 targets.

Deaths and serious injuries are preventable, but reducing crashes is about much more than just how we drive. It’s about all the different parts of the system – roads, vehicles, speeds, and people.

Under Road to Zero, we’re improving the safety of existing roads, using evidence-based tools to identify the best solutions in high-risk areas. These include new roundabouts, median barriers, side barriers, widened centrelines and rumble strips.

Getting more New Zealanders into vehicles with high safety ratings is also a big part of the strategy, because these vehicles can help drivers avoid crashes, and protect people when crashes do happen. People are twice as safe in a 5-star vehicle than a 1-star vehicle. That’s why Waka Kotahi is working to raise standards for vehicles entering the country, and to increase public demand for safer cars.

Safer speeds also have a huge role to play. When speeds are safe for the road, simple mistakes are less likely to end in tragedy, which is why Waka Kotahi and local authorities are identifying roads across the country where safer speed limits can make a significant and immediate difference in saving lives.

Reducing speeds to safe levels is a key tool which has been used to great effect in many countries with world-leading road safety records. These countries place a greater focus on the combined benefits of safety, efficiency and wellbeing, rather than simply equating speed with productivity as we currently do in New Zealand.

As individuals, we all have a responsibility to follow the road rules, wear our seatbelts and avoid driving while impaired by drugs or alcohol, or when distracted by our mobile phones. Police enforcement is essential to ensure compliance with speed limits and to deter those who do engage in deliberate high-risk behaviours, but contrary to perceived wisdom, most serious crashes aren’t caused by people driving recklessly.

A 2018 New Zealand AA Research Foundation study found that, for about 70 per cent of crashes where people were seriously injured, drivers had generally followed the road rules. Rather than driving recklessly, people had simply made a mistake, or something unexpected happened. Everyone makes mistakes, and some crashes are inevitable, which is why the safe system seeks to ensure that these crashes are survivable.

Mistakes are inevitable, but deaths and serious injuries aren’t. Road to Zero is about moving our mindset to say “no more” to deaths and serious injuries on the road. We won’t get to zero overnight, but by setting that as the vision, and working towards it with a clear plan and a hard target for 2030, we can save hundreds of lives and prevent thousands of injuries, which is worth fighting for.

Nicole Rosie is chief executive of Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.