The New Zealand Government is inviting public feedback on its new Road to Zero plan.
The plan outlines proposals for a new road safety strategy for New Zealand, to replace Safer Journeys, the current road safety strategy which expires at the end of this year. It also sets out a preliminary set of actions under the new strategy.
“This Road to Zero consultation document asks you to consider a new approach to road safety, founded on a position that deaths and serious injuries on our roads are unacceptable and preventable,” states Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter in the consultation.
“It builds on the safe system approach adopted in Safer Journeys, and calls on us to continue to strengthen all elements of the road system: safe roads and roadsides, safe vehicles, safe road use and safe speeds. And it asks us to consider carefully what level of trauma we’re willing to accept on our roads: how many more lives are we prepared to lose and how many more families should we expect to grieve?”
The consultation document proposes a target of a 40 percent reduction in deaths and serious injuries by 2030. This would be achieved through action in five key areas:
- Improve the safety of cities and regions through infrastructure improvements and speed management
- Significantly improve the safety performance of the vehicle fleet
- Treat road safety as a critical health and safety at work issue
- Encourage safer choices and safer behaviour on roads
- Drive action through effective system management
Submissions on the Road to Zero consultation are due by 5:00pm on Wednesday 14 August 2019.
