Pretty sure someone in the labour government was reported saying some time ago that they wanted zero deaths on ours roads. It seems that they have revisited that target In 2017, 378 commuters were killed on the roads. The toll has gone up every year since 2013, when 253 people were killed. "Gammie said there was "no clear target or number" on what the Government hoped to get the number of fatalities down to." https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/106715396/government-announces-record-transport-investment-in-highways
Zero is a great target. If you get close, it's still a huge improvement on what it is currently.
intrade,
Sep 1, 6:27am
what happened to the target of zero deaths its otherwise knowen as "delutional fiction"
thejazzpianoma,
Sep 1, 6:35am
No, it's a terrible idea because it justifies wasting resources trying to attain the impossible.
It's the old 80/20 rule. You waste 80 percent of your resources chasing the last 20 percent of your target.
The sensible thing is to look at the amount of money you have and your entire portfolio of public spending. You put your money where it is going to save the most lives.
The problem our successive governments have had is it's much better politically to make a song and dance about spending on really visible things even if those things are not where the best return on the dollar is.
That's why we have more preventable asthma deaths in NZ than we do fatalities relating to speeding. Yet we care so little about the unsexy asthma deaths that we have recently even stopped collecting the data.
gunhand,
Sep 1, 6:38am
What would you rather they make the target? 250, 125, 301 maybe? Targets are just that, a target. Something you aim to try and achieve or hit. You may well not hit it at first but if you try and practice a lot you may well hit quite often, but even then it can be missed. Zero road toll, easy as, stop humans driving. But even if you stopped them driving and just say for arguments sake everyone took to bicycles or skateboards even, humans being humans and in retrospect a quite pathetic life form at times would find a way to kill themselves. Lets say we all still drive but only at 20kph. someone would still drive over a cliff. Could bring back horses, but have you ever fallen off one at full gallop? not a pretty sight. Whats that little ditty again that applies to human stupidity. dumb ways to die.
wind.turbine,
Sep 1, 7:40am
it seems to me that the more they are trying to reduce it that the more it goes up, maybe they need to just let natural selection take its course for a few years. might sound bad but hey, it will sort the housing crisis out too!
framtech,
Sep 1, 9:05am
These targets are to justify the collection of fines from speed camera's and police traps, and yet the billions they collect have not reduced the road toll. ( any drop since the 70's is because the cars handle and stop better and have computers doing the hard yards for the driver). I really think the job of the bureaucrats in central and local government is to piss off good people with stupidity and too much power.
thejazzpianoma,
Sep 1, 9:59am
The thing is they are not really trying to reduce it. Road safety has become a corrupt means of raising revenue first and foremost. That's why you see the resources dedicated to giving out as many tickets as possible as opposed to dealing with the local road hazards (whatever they may be in the particular area).
Fuel and road tax funds road Policing and then the Government gets a nice kickback of half a Billion dollars annually from "infringements" of which only a small proportion are actually related to a real safety concern. (The Police's own words BTW)
This is why you have multiple units sitting on the side of the road during heavy storms still on radar duty while there are serious and imminent safety issues all around them that remain untended.
jantar,
Sep 1, 9:43pm
If it is not achievable then it is not a target. It is a dream.
tweake,
Sep 1, 10:19pm
on the other hand "aim small, miss small". if you aim at an almost impossible target you will get far closer to it than if you aim for an achievable target. so there is merit in aiming for ridiculous targets like zero deaths.
jantar,
Sep 1, 11:12pm
Not really. Basic psychology tells us that if a target is achievable then people wont even try.
tweake,
Sep 1, 11:17pm
? you say i'm wrong but then say why i'm right. which is it ?
jantar,
Sep 1, 11:59pm
That should have read "not achievable"
tweake,
Sep 2, 12:21am
thats debatable. if its regular joe blogs who doesn't give a crap about what works hes doing, then yes they won't try. but generally the people working on those projects have an interest in it. so they will try their best even tho they know its not achievable. they will do everything they can think of and they will do better than those who only have to do just enough to meet an easier target.
robbief,
Sep 2, 3:16am
was that target not from a greenie minister who has not got a car only a push bike?what would she know ?
gabbysnana,
Sep 2, 5:19am
Theres nearly 5 million of us, 4 million plus cars, a new kiwi arrives every 9 minutes, a person dies every 14 minutes, the road toll now is the same as it was in the 50/60's. When seat belts were introduced (not because of) the road toll tripled for 20+ years. The roads are clogged but cars are safer and its really unnecessary to ram road deaths in our faces like we are to blame. It is what it is, move on.
sw20,
Sep 2, 5:27am
Norway had 106 last year with half a million more people and is also a long skinny country.
Ireland has the same population roughly as New Zealand, in a country half the size of the South Island, they had 158.
thejazzpianoma,
Sep 2, 7:02am
Neither of which tend to import vast quantities of small JDM only cars that were never intended for use outside the country. Let alone condone cab forward vans and the like on their roads. In fact the only popular Japanese brand in those countries is Toyota and of those most sales tend to be models like the Corolla and Avensis which are now pretty well sorted safety wise.
sw20,
Sep 2, 7:26am
So since they don't have many cab forward vans and a lack of JDM imported cars they crash less?
3tomany,
Sep 2, 8:04am
Na they knew how gullible some voters are and played them.
serf407,
Sep 2, 9:30am
Norway has the big oil pot of money to spend on road infrastructure. The roads between the larger urban areas in the south have double lane motorways linking them, due to the terrain the 2 lanes in the opposite direction can be a fair distance away, where they are close there are barriers. Norway has the money to add kilometres of 4 (2+2) every year. Their traffic fines are steep too for speeding and a low speeding threshold for prison. http://www.speedingeurope.com/norway/ Ireland has over 700 speed cameras. Radar detectors and laser jammers are banned. The roads are being worked on too. Narrow roads in places, a simple error can put you in a hedge row or stone wall. http://www.speedingeurope.com/ireland/
socram,
Sep 2, 7:13pm
Pointless comparing NZ with Norway on a several counts, not the least of which, and in addition to the above, is weather patterns, the age of the vehicles on the roads, the number and origin of immigrants from countries with even worse driving habits and so on.
Not sure if they have compulsory insurance and no idea of the age and ease of obtaining a driving licence.
We need to look at all factors when comparing our statistics with other countries but one of our biggest problems appears to be youngsters stealing and crashing cars, with or without police chases.
As they are breaking the law anyway, no matter what laws we bring in, it is unlikely to solve that specific problem, which appears to be social.
loose.unit8,
Sep 2, 7:49pm
Nailed it.
Target's must be achievable
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