Editing' of drug driving papers needs explaining

The deliberate removal of significant data from a Cabinet paper on drug driving is just the latest example of National not taking issues around road safety seriously, Labour’s Transport Safety spokesperson Iain Lees-Galloway says.

“Deleting this information – which highlights the scale of the drug driving problem in New Zealand – would surely affect Cabinet’s ability to make right and informed decisions about tackling the drug driving problem.

“Associate Transport Minister Simon Bridges should explain why the information was removed by the Ministry and who ordered its removal.

“The ‘editing’, as the Ministry describes its almost two pages of deletions, follows the Government’s refusal to lower the legal blood alcohol content for drivers, it’s refusal to acknowledge that unsafe trucking practices are making our roads more dangerous, and cuts to community road safety programmes.

“As usual the Government sees only the cost of investing in road safety, not the benefits.

“The NZTA estimates that every road death has a social cost of $3.5 million. Investment in safety measures not only leads to monetary savings down the line, but lives saved.

“National needs to take the issue seriously. Withholding vital information from Cabinet is a sure sign it has never really had its eye on the road safety ball,” said Iain Lees-Galloway.