Many Kiwi cars are deadly old dungers
More than 40 per cent of the vehicles driven by New Zealanders are deadly, according to the NZ Transport Agency.
NZTA has compiled data showing 41 per cent of light vehicles – about 1.65 million – have 1-star and 2-star safety ratings. These are cars that do not perform well in a crash. You are twice as likely to die or be seriously injured in a crash in a 1-star or 2-star vehicle than in a 5-star one.
A full two-thirds of crashes that result in deaths and serious injuries involve 1-star and 2-star vehicles.
To combat this, NZTA is rolling out a new road safety advertising and education campaign designed to get more people into 4-star and 5-star cars.
The ‘‘Safe Vehicles Programme’’ will direct people to the rightcar.govt.nz website to check the safety rating of their car.
NZTA’s senior road safety manager, Fabian Marsh, said that while everyone inevitably made mistakes while driving, the likelihood of a person surviving a serious crash was improved by driving better vehicles.
‘‘Safer vehicles can save lives in crashes.’’ Fabian Marsh NZ Transport Agency
‘‘We all make mistakes when driving, and some crashes are inevitable, but safer vehicles can save lives in crashes,’’ he said.
‘‘Checking a vehicle’s safety rating before you buy is not often high on the list of priorities for many New Zealanders, and we would like to see that change,’’ he said.
The campaign is part of the Government’s ‘‘Road to Zero’’ strategy, which aims to reduce the road toll to zero over the next 10 years.
Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter said motorists should read up before they buy.
‘‘It is also important that people do their own research before they buy a car,’’ she said.
Meanwhile, the Government is implementing sweeping regulatory changes to improve the quality of cars entering the national fleet.
As of tomorrow, a long-flagged requirement for all vehicles entering the fleet to be fitted with electronic stability control (ESC) will finally take effect.
‘‘ESC greatly reduces the risk of a driver losing control of their vehicle and thus reduces the risk of crashes,’’ Genter said.
Meanwhile, she signalled that more mandatory vehicle standards for imported vehicles would be looked at as part of the Road to Zero plan.
Genter flagged technologies like autonomous emergency braking, side airbags, and lane-keeping technology as areas that might be looked at.