Auckland’s road toll outruns national rate
Deaths on Auckland roads have increased at more than triple the rate of the rest of the country, a review of the city’s roads and transport policy has revealed.
In response to the report, Auckland Transport has announced a $700 million investment into reducing death and serious injury on the city’s roads.
A 78 per cent increase in Auckland road fatalities between 2014 and 2017 dwarfed the 23 per cent increase seen across the rest of New Zealand, international road safety consultancy Whiting Moyne found during its investigation. The review, commissioned by Auckland Transport in 2017 and released last week, noted road safety in Auckland ‘‘could legitimately be described as a crisis’’.
Two days later a teen cyclist died after a hit-and-run on north Auckland’s Oteha Valley Rd – near a notorious blind-spot where a 56-year-old pedestrian was killed by a car last month.
The report found Auckland road-related incidents took 64 people’s lives during 2017, compared with 36 in 2014. There were 771 serious injuries reported on Auckland’s roads in 2017, and 447 in 2014; that 72 per cent increase was far higher than the rest of the country’s 28 per cent increase over the same period.
Principal of Whiting Moyne Eric Howard blamed transport authorities’ ‘‘absence of commitment to improving safety’’ for much of the problem.
‘‘The crisis in road safety performance reflects a number of deficiencies of public policy at central government and local level,’’ he said.
‘‘Auckland has had no new road safety strategy approved since Auckland Transport was formed [in 2010]. Safety on the road network has not been a priority at Auckland Transport in that time.’’
Auckland Transport chair Lester Levy said the organisation would adopt a ‘‘Vision Zero’’ approach, which originated in Sweden and functioned on the premise that no loss of life due to traffic incidents was acceptable.
Lowered speed limits, more safety cameras and high friction road surfacing, better pedestrian infrastructure, and strengthened partnerships between local and government agencies would help lower the road toll by up to 20 per cent over the next three years, Levy said.
Mayor Phil Goff said the city would be investing heavily in road safety measures over the next 10 years.
Whiting Moyne reported the number of deaths and serious injuries related to alcohol on Auckland roads went from 89 in 2012 to 125 in 2017 – a 40 per cent increase.
The report recommended Auckland police’s capacity to deliver random breath tests be significantly boosted to combat drink-driving.