WOF failings show NZTA has become a soft touch

Friday, 30 November 2018

Clive Matthew-Wilson: 'NZTA effectively became an organisation that was more interested in getting along with everyone rather than doing its job.'

OPINION: Last August, an Aratuna Freighters truck was descending the Nelson side of the Hope Saddle, when the trailer drawbeam snapped off the truck.

The 48-tonne truck's trailer drifted across the opposite lane for 40m before hitting a bank. It's a miracle no one was killed.

This incident was not an isolated case: In another example of incredible good luck, a truck driver noticed a large crack in a trailer drawbar, just before he towed the huge trailer on to the highway.

These trucks had all been certified as safe by a qualified engineer.

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Sadly, it's now clear that these problems were the tip of the iceberg.

There have been alarming revelations about serious truck defects. In addition, tens of thousands of warrants of fitness have recently been cancelled. It has become clear that the garages that issued these WOFs and COFs had passed vehicles with major safety defects.

In another recent tragedy, a worn seatbelt that had passed its WOF inspection, failed in an accident. The person wearing that seatbelt was killed.

How did a major government department get it so wrong?

Based on my own research, the one-word answer: Deregulation.

The previous government made deregulation a central plank of its entire strategy. Reduce bureaucracy. Reduce compliance costs for businesses. Improve efficiency.

Above all, the government acted with the assumption that business works best without heavy-handed interference from government.

The New Zealand Transport Agency was profoundly shaped by these government policies.

NZTA had crucial enforcement duties, such as policing the companies that issued warrants of fitness for light vehicles and certificates of fitness for heavy vehicles.

In past government departments, this enforcement was done by a separate division that was solely focussed on maintaining standards.

Under National, this emphasis changed. Unbelievably, NZTA's enforcement division was effectively merged with its customer service division.

NZTA's customer service division's mantra was 'educate before enforcing'. So, instead of coming down hard of garages that issued dodgy WOFs, the NZTA would 'dialogue' with the garage, encouraging them to modify their inspection system.

It didn't take long before the word got around that NZTA was a soft touch. Instead of being a feared government enforcer of vehicle standards, NZTA effectively became an organisation that was more interested in getting along with everyone rather than doing its job.

As any policeman will tell you, when an enforcement officer starts getting along with the groups he's supposed to be enforcing, there's something very wrong.

The government of the time also wanted to cut costs, even when costs shouldn't have been cut. For years, the government resisted attempts to raise the fees paid to NZTA by businesses that issued WOFs and COFs. These fees funded enforcement. Without any increase in the fees received, NZTA lacked the funds to increase enforcement duties.

International studies suggest that between 2 and 8.5 per cent of accidents are directly caused by faulty vehicles. In all likelihood, many more accidents have some vehicle fault that contributes to an accident, even if the fault doesn't directly cause it. For example, if the steering or suspension on a car are dodgy, then these faults can dramatically affect the outcome in an emergency.

Suppose a driver drifts off to sleep then suddenly wakes up to find his car leaving the road. He snatches at the wheel to steer his car out of danger. However, the car instead loses control and slides into the path of an oncoming truck.

The police investigation will inevitably conclude that the accident was caused by bad driving, but that's not necessarily true. On a car with good suspension and steering, the accident might never have occurred.

The one bright spot about the whole NZTA scandal is that there's a chance that the current government will learn from the mistakes of the previous government.

Nobody likes heavy-handed government regulation, including me. However, like most sane people, I accept that rules are usually there for a reason.

It's time for the NZTA to be given the power and resources to do its job properly.

An outspoken road safety campaigner, Clive Matthew-Wilson is editor of the car review website dogandlemon.com