The Road to Zero Monitoring Report 2021 so far shows 320 dead and 2,323 seriously injured last year, which the report says is “still unacceptably high”.
The figures are higher than the 2020 toll, when 318 people died on the road and 2175 were seriously injured.
The Road to Zero targets aim to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries by 40 percent by 2030 compared to the 2018 toll. The report is jointly released by Te Manatū Waka – the Ministry of Transport, Waka Kotahi and police.
The number of deaths and serious injuries per 100,000 people increased by 27 percent in Gisborne (to 104.9) compared to 2018, while in Nelson they fell by 62 percent to 27.4.
The situation in New Zealand was “devilish,” says Te Manatū Waka Road to Zero director Bryan Sherritt.
And there were notable areas that needed more attention, such as infrastructure installation, enforcement, and better policy settings.
“It’s the scale and pace at which those changes are made that are critical.”
Sherritt said it was difficult to compare annual tolls because there was “a natural variation from year to year.”
“What you should be comparing is more around a five-year average, how we fare against that … a longer-term approach.”
He said there is “still a way to go, but so far we are on track”.
Recent changes have meant that there were governing groups with a “slight focus” on monitoring the program’s performance and trying to improve it, he said.
But making changes in underperforming areas can be challenging, Sherritt said, because “things take time.”
“You might think that installing a median strip on a roadway is relatively simple, but in almost all cases it involves significant widening of the road and major agreements with the adjacent property owners – how they enter the road. reach the future.”
He said the program plan had been ‘certainly ambitious’, but ‘that’s what you should be when we talk about people’s lives’.
Attention also had to be given to the Safe System approach, he said, which recognized that responsibility for safety is shared by those who design, build, manage and use the roads and vehicles.
Transport Minister Michael Wood referred to the approach in the report’s foreword and said people needed to recognize the combination of actions needed to make things better.
“Our government will do everything it can to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads, but this must be a joint national effort.”
Kane Patena, director of Waka Kotahi, said roads and berms needed to be built that were “forgiving”, as well as safe speed limits and getting people into safer vehicles “so those simple mistakes don’t kill people”.
“Waka Kotahi will prioritize infrastructure investment in safety improvements such as median and side barriers and speed cameras.”
Police Assistant Commissioner Bruce O’Brien said the police are committed to stepping up their efforts “and continuing to take appropriate prevention and enforcement measures necessary to” reduce deaths and serious injuries.