$22.5m for road safety to cut death toll

The Government has announced $22.5 million in funding to improve road safety, as the road toll hits a seven-year high.

Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter announced the short-term funding boost on Sunday.

While planning work was starting immediately, any improvements to roads would not be in place until February, Genter said.

She also said the Government would be reviewing speed limits in the coming year.

Ministry of Transport and NZ Transport Agency figures show 359 people have died on New Zealand roads this year, with 14 days to go – days when there will be a lot of cars on the road and heightened risk.

Last month, the road toll surpassed 2016’s of 327. The last time there were this many road deaths was in 2010, when 375 people died.

Genter said that over the summer NZ Transport Agency would roll out the additional $22.5m worth of low-cost safety improvements on rural state highways across Northland, Taranaki, Manawatu¯-Whanganui, Canterbury, Otago and Southland.

Genter said the agency had identified 30 of the most high-risk regional roads. The funding has been reallocated from within the state highways budget.

Genter said she did not expect this reallocation would result in other projects being put on hold.

‘‘The number of people losing their lives on our roads has increased every year for the past five years.

‘‘When things are this bad, government has a responsibility to act,’’ Genter said.

Improvements would include rumble strips, signage and safety barriers on rural roads where there was a real risk of death and serious injuries.

Many deaths and injuries could be avoided on these roads by making some relatively simple changes, she said.

Rumble strips could reduce all crashes by about 25 per cent and fatal run-off-road crashes by up to 42 per cent.

‘‘Despite what many people think, improving road safety is not just about getting people to drive better.

‘‘It’s also about making our roads much safer, so that when people make mistakes lives aren’t lost,’’ Genter said.

‘‘On too many of our roads a simple error, such as taking a corner too fast or being momentarily distracted, can be fatal.’’

Genter said the Government and NZTA would be looking to accelerate the speed management programme – in conjunction with local councils – so that there was the ‘‘right speed; the safe speed, for the conditions’’.

Next year, the Government would further increase funding for road safety improvements as it revised the overall transport budget, she said.

She said those high-risk roads, which would be targeted with the reallocated funding, had been identified through NZTA’s road safety assessment, which had to do with the speed, alignment and the number of deaths or serious injuries that had occurred on the road in the past.