Worst road-safety cases resolved, says minister
Transport Minister Phil Twyford has made a ministerial statement in Parliament reassuring the public about the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) and road safety, and revealing some more detail about investigations.
His move follows his announcement last week that he was initiating a regulatory review of the agency which was set up 10 years ago to combine three functions as the transport funder and builder, and safety regulator.
Twyford said there had been systemic failures by NZTA when it came to properly checking operators who certified vehicles.
Stuff has reported on one death, cracked truck towbars, and suspension of certifiers.
Out of the 850 ‘‘open files’’, or unresolved safety problems, the worst had been resolved but 28 were being urgently investigated.
There had been 157 files considered high priority, 370 classed as ‘‘orange’’, and 345 ‘‘yellow’’.
Twyford said he had been assured the highest-priority cases had been dealt with by formal compliance action either completed or under way.
‘‘Injuries on our roads are not the price we pay to travel. They are unacceptable and preventable,’’ he said.
‘‘I’m disappointed that NZTA has failed to carry out its regulatory functions.’’
He had appointed the Ministry of Transport to review those functions, and given what the public and Government now knew, it was appropriate to appoint external advice, he said.
Law firm Meredith Connell has been reviewing the files and the agency was moving quickly to rectify lapses.
The cost of engaging the law firm so far was $400,000.
The agency had failed to properly check operators who certified vehicles or operators as safe for the road, and when problems were identified there was often no follow-up, Twyford said.
Staff had been redeployed with reduced focus on the regulatory role over the past decade, with an emphasis on education and encouragement rather than enforcement.
This was made worse in 2014 when it lost staff from its heavy vehicle compliance team.
Twyford said the systemic failure of one of the Government’s most important agencies was unacceptable.