Safety expert explains how to lower the road toll

One of the country’s leading road safety experts has outlined what he calls the ‘seven essential steps’ for lowering the road toll.

Clive Matthew-Wilson, editor of the car buyers’ Dog & Lemon Guide, says that it’s not good enough to simply blame bad driving for the road toll.

“The country’s transport system needs to be set up so that it’s easy to do the right thing and hard to do the wrong thing.”

Matthew-Wilson gave the example of the Auckland harbour bridge, which used to suffer one serious road accident every week.

“After a barrier was installed down the middle, the accidents stopped immediately. There’s wasn’t one less hoon or drunk driver, and yet the accidents stopped immediately. That’s the way the entire road system needs to be set up.”

Matthew-Wilson outlined seven steps the government needs to take if it wishes to lower the road toll:

1) Wherever possible, separate opposing lanes of traffic using wire rope barriers.
Although this is already being done in some places, Matthew-Wilson says that in most cases the barriers are not installed because they would slow down traffic, especially trucks.

“Everyone agrees that separating opposing lanes of traffic prevents head-on collisions. I was gobsmacked to hear a government engineer tell me that the reason that more roads didn’t have a wire rope barrier was because it would slow the trucks down. I don’t think the trucking industry should be running government road safety policy.”

2) Gradually move freight off the roads and onto rail.

“Trucks make up only 4% of the vehicle fleet but cause 16% of all road deaths. This risk is only going to get worse with larger trucks.” Not only are trucks incredibly wasteful of energy, they are also a serious risk to other motorists. One in five trucks were found to have brake faults in 2007, and the larger the truck, the harder it is to stop.”

3) Restrict teenagers’ access to alcohol, and make adults who supply underage drinkers liable for any crimes committed by those underage drinkers.
“It’s ridiculously easy for young teenagers to get drunk, and the consequences are often disastrous. The alcohol these teenagers are drinking has to come from somewhere, and if you can slow down this supply, you can lower the numbers of dead and injured teenagers.”

4) Require government departments to buy the safest vehicles in their class.
This will mean that the vehicles that poor people buy in five years’ time are far safer than they otherwise would have been.

“The government runs expensive ads telling people to buy cars with the latest safety features, but often doesn’t buy these same safe vehicles. The government needs to practise what it preaches.”

5) Require all vehicles to have automatic headlights.
Nations that have automatic headlights, which are on at all times, tend to have a road toll that is significantly lower than countries where cars are only required to have headlights on at night.
“The New Zealand government has two independent reports showing that we could dramatically lower the road toll if all cars had lights on during the day. The government’s response is to run road safety ads that don’t work. Can we please have some road safety strategies that are based on science and research?”

6) Raise the licence age to 17.
“I know this would be an unpopular move, but the best science suggests that teenagers under the age of 17 simply don’t have the skills to navigate modern roads. Worse, teenagers are absolutely convinced that they’re ten foot tall and bulletproof. That’s a lethal combination.”

7) Seize cellphones used by drivers while a vehicle is in motion.
Instead of fining drivers who use handheld cellphones, Matthew-Wilson believes the police should have the power to temporarily seize cellphones being used by drivers while a vehicle is in motion.
Matthew-Wilson says that “simply banning cellphones doesn’t work because many users are prepared to risk a fine rather than miss a call. However, most cellphone users would hate to lose their cellphone – even temporarily – and this fear would eventually modify their behaviour.”