Roads of National Significance partly to blame for death toll on our roads: Genter

Saturday, 6 January 2018

With the death toll on Kiwi roads hitting 380 last year, Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter this week called an urgent meeting of minds from across New Zealand.

At the meeting Genter and others will be discussing how to reduce the number of deaths of our roads, which she says is unacceptable.

Part of the blame for the increasing road toll can be pointed at the former Government pouring money into the Roads of National Significance, says Genter.

She believes under National's reign the rest of New Zealand's roads were left to wrack and ruin.

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'That money was channelled into a few roads which have only a small percentage of traffic on them. The rest of the roads across the country suffered during that time,' Genter said.

That is why she is rolling out $22.5million immediately for minor safety improvements, including rumble strips and safety barriers.

Although people need to watch their speeding, not drinking while driving or texting, New Zealand's road design is not helping.

'Our roads do not allow for mistakes.

'Sometimes people just make mistakes, and our roads don't cater for that.'

National's Transport spokeswoman Judith Collins laughed at the suggestion that building the Roads of National Significance was a bad idea.

'Those roads of National Significance have high traffic, lots of cars and trucks, and are of really high quality.  When they are all rolled out they will help reduce the road toll because they are amongst the safest in the world,' Collins said.

'What [Julie Anne Genter] doesn't get is that local roads are paid for by local councils. Those roads of National Significance have high traffic, lots of cars and trucks, and are of really high quality.  When they are all rolled out they will help reduce the road toll because they are amongst the safest in the world,' Collins said.

'I don't think Julie Anne realises that local roads are funded by local government. It's up to them to make sure their roads are kept up to standard.'

There is not enough money in the pot for the central Government to build all of New Zealand's roads, local Government needs to be accountable too, Collins says.

From a purely statistical viewpoint the road toll is lowering - for every 10,000 cars on the road, the number of deaths is dropping every year.

But Genter is not buying into the statistics.

'Every death is one too many. Each person that dies on the roads has family and friends that love them and are devastated by,' she says.

Genter was given the Road Safety delegation near the end of 2017, when she was made Associate Minister of Transport in the Labour-led Government.

She called an urgent meeting for pointy-headed people in the transport arena across New Zealand to come to Wellington to discuss the epidemic.

'380 people died on our roads in 2017,' she says.

'We wouldn't accept that number for aircraft travel, so why should we accept it for our roads.'

Nor, would it be acceptable for public transport of any kind, she said. Though public transport should be part of the solution.

'The toll wouldn't be so high if people had accessible public transport. It would lower the congestion, the frustration and people can text and travel at the same time as riding a train.'

Genter points to Sweden as an example of a lowered road toll. Sweden has got it right when it comes to lowering the road toll - it has more cars on the road, and less deaths because of road design, driving behaviours and better public transport, she said.

'I am really pleased she said we need better public transport - because we do need reliable public transport. It has to be reliable,' Collins said.