Vehicles not properly regulated

The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has not been properly regulating vehicle safety, leading to more dangerous vehicles on the road.

Transport Minister Phil Twyford said ‘‘years of underfunding’’ had led to NZTA failing to always make vehicles safe for the road.

The agency had not been properly checking up on companies who certify vehicle safety and give out licenses, and when problems were identified were often not following up.

A former employee told Stuff the problems went very deep, with an agency-wide focus on cost-cutting and a failed ‘‘willing-compliance’’ model.

A review into the matter has been announced by the NZTA board, to be conducted by law firm Meredith Connell.

Heavy vehicles were in particular a problem area, with fewer staff for the sector after a 2014 change, and too many companies getting too much leeway on issues like too-heavy loads and bad log-keeping.

But the issue spanned the sector, taking in companies who gave out warrants of fitness, licenses, and some operators of heavy vehicles. There was 850 open compliance files that had been essentially gathering dust, all that are now being looked into, with urgent work on just over 150 to prioritise safety.

Board chair Michael Stiassny said the system had to be improved, and enforcement had been the last resort for too long.

‘‘The reliance on the industry to self-regulate has not worked,’’ Stiassny said.

Stiassny said the way the regulator had worked with companies had allowed companies to basically set the agenda, with too much of a focus on ‘‘educating’’ companies instead of enforcing regulation. The former employee said he left the agency after years of frustration.

He said some agency managers had come back from overseas trips with the idea of a ‘‘willing compliance’’ model, which basically mandated that operators who were not compliant should be ‘‘educated’’ and not prosecuted.

‘‘We were getting taxi drivers driving 32 hours without a break. You’ve got truck drivers out there doing the exactly same thing.’’

‘‘We were getting taxi drivers driving 32 hours without a break.’’ Former NZTA employee