A lot of detail here.

https://www.transport.govt.nz/mot-resources/road-safety-resources/road-deaths/

Those are some stats, but they appear to be lacking information, such as what was the causes of the crashes, which I think is the most important thing we need to know. But one thing from those stats, is that many are occurring in drivers who are under 35, which are those people who have been subject to the more stringent licensing tests. NZ isn't the best at statistics, eg it wasn't until recently we didn't have any idea of the number of people from overseas buying NZ houses. Even now the stats aren't great. The road stats don't say who was at fault, and if it was due to conditions, speeding, falling asleep at the wheel, bad driving, or caused by another driver etc. So in some ways they aren't very useful in terms of working out a solution for the problem. Except possibly identifying poor quality and dangerous roads. 

tdgeek: Seat belts were made compulsory on 1975 so its not that.

gzt:

tdgeek: Seat belts were made compulsory on 1975 so its not that.

Rear seatbelts were not compulsory until 1989.

My recollection is around 50% of drivers ignored the front seatbelt rule until that time.

The rear seatbelt rule was effectively ignored for many years because older cars at that time simply did not have them. It would not surprise me if some areas have never caught up with that.

Thats right 65 to 75 was fit, then must use fronts, 79 to 89 was the rears. I recall a rule, that IF you had rears you had to use them?

As regards macusers comments, the road toll didn't start dropping till about 91, so the front berets didn't seem to matter, oddly. The rears would matter less. The road toll now is quite stable, so if we assume safer cars helped, then what's left is people. I don; buy the poor quality roads argument. I fully support enforcement. Red light care seemed to come and go, so lets fund them and rake in the cash to pay for them, big fines. 

My recommendation to you all, if you want to take action, is to join the Institute of Advanced Motorists here and train for and take your advanced test - and to encourage your family and friends to do the same.

You will learn a lot: the course is based on the Police Driver Training manual Roadcraft and the test can be taken by motorists and motorcyclists and you will do a number of drives with an IAM qualified Observer who will assist you in improving and learning until they feel you are good enough to pass the test.

It might save your life - or someone elses.

Einstein is credited with defining stupidity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". Take action. Don't do the same thing again and again.

Just the standard of driving is terrible..

Yesterday, driving out to Lower Hutt from Johnsonville, coming onto the motorway\expressway heading north, we joined the dual carriageway doing around 65km/h. Traffic wasn't heavy, and there was only very light drizzle. And it's not like this was an isolated incident, it happens all the time. Yes, drive to the conditions, but driving that slow is almost dangerous.

The other thing becoming more frequent, is those drivers that brake going up the Ngauranga gorge. Yes the gorge hill is 80km/h, and the motorway approach is 100km/h, most drivers will roll out of the throttle and use the hill to slow to 80km/h, but there are those hit the brakes and drop to 80 km/h before the gorge, and therefore lose all momentum going up the hill. 

Incidentally I was nearly run over today while crossing at the lights.

I cross Lincoln/Moorhouse 2 or three times a day for my walk to get to Hagley park and it's been so common for drivers to run the red turn arrow and cut me off while I have the green man I started filming and got this guy today.

He had no idea whatsoever I was there, was blindly following the truck through the red light. I had to stop and let him pass, he got a heck of a shock when I yelled at him.

WyleECoyoteNZ:

 

Just the standard of driving is terrible..

 

Yesterday, driving out to Lower Hutt from Johnsonville, coming onto the motorway\expressway heading north, we joined the dual carriageway doing around 65km/h. Traffic wasn't heavy, and there was only very light drizzle. And it's not like this was an isolated incident, it happens all the time. Yes, drive to the conditions, but driving that slow is almost dangerous.

 

The other thing becoming more frequent, is those drivers that brake going up the Ngauranga gorge. Yes the gorge hill is 80km/h, and the motorway approach is 100km/h, most drivers will roll out of the throttle and use the hill to slow to 80km/h, but there are those hit the brakes and drop to 80 km/h before the gorge, and therefore lose all momentum going up the hill. 

 

 

 

I don't find the average driver at all good at coming down an on ramp and joining a fast road. For some reason they appear incapable of matching the speed of the traffic and easing in: there is a tendency to simply drive to the end of the merge lane and then stop! If anyone did that overseas on a major motorway network it would cause chaos.

Reading this thread, I am reminded that we are poor drivers. From what I see we are typically poor drivers so the road toll should be 28,000. But it's not. There is probably an internet term for talking ONLY about the negative and ignoring the other 99% of positive. If we want to mention that poor driver I saw today, we should also balance that be discussing the other 98 drivers that do well

I see poor drivers, but that's rare based upon the other drivers. 

Im in ChCh, supposedly the home of bad driving. yes, I see it, but not every 4 seconds. No matter what we do, there will always be a poor driver, or a good or ok driver that made a booboo. We need to manage that as best we can and thats BIG penalties

Geektastic:

 

WyleECoyoteNZ:

 

Just the standard of driving is terrible..

 

Yesterday, driving out to Lower Hutt from Johnsonville, coming onto the motorway\expressway heading north, we joined the dual carriageway doing around 65km/h. Traffic wasn't heavy, and there was only very light drizzle. And it's not like this was an isolated incident, it happens all the time. Yes, drive to the conditions, but driving that slow is almost dangerous.

 

The other thing becoming more frequent, is those drivers that brake going up the Ngauranga gorge. Yes the gorge hill is 80km/h, and the motorway approach is 100km/h, most drivers will roll out of the throttle and use the hill to slow to 80km/h, but there are those hit the brakes and drop to 80 km/h before the gorge, and therefore lose all momentum going up the hill. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't find the average driver at all good at coming down an on ramp and joining a fast road. For some reason they appear incapable of matching the speed of the traffic and easing in: there is a tendency to simply drive to the end of the merge lane and then stop! If anyone did that overseas on a major motorway network it would cause chaos.

 

Is your driving 100% perfect? You always obey the road rules, never make a mistake, always get it right?

mattwnz:

 

Those are some stats, but they appear to be lacking information, such as what was the causes of the crashes, which I think is the most important thing we need to know. But one thing from those stats, is that many are occurring in drivers who are under 35, which are those people who have been subject to the more stringent licensing tests. NZ isn't the best at statistics, eg it wasn't until recently we didn't have any idea of the number of people from overseas buying NZ houses. Even now the stats aren't great. The road stats don't say who was at fault, and if it was due to conditions, speeding, falling asleep at the wheel, bad driving, or caused by another driver etc. So in some ways they aren't very useful in terms of working out a solution for the problem. Except possibly identifying poor quality and dangerous roads. 

 

The causes you are after aren't publicly available but are recorded in NZTA's Crash Analysis System (CAS). Look at page 13 onwards:
https://nzta.govt.nz/assets/resources/guide-to-coded-crash-reports/docs/guide-to-coded-crash-reports.pdf

I see a lot of drivers cutting the centreline to go around corners, even on blind corners etc. Most of them are doing 15 - 20 under the speed limit for the area. It's asking for a crash to happen.

Inphinity:

 

I see a lot of drivers cutting the centreline to go around corners, even on blind corners etc. Most of them are doing 15 - 20 under the speed limit for the area. It's asking for a crash to happen.

 

I'm a strong believer most accidents aren't a once off in poor driving behavior. Drivers who become accustomed to performing ordinarily illegal acts on a regular basis and get away with it due to either dumb luck or relying on the other person to take evasive action.

One day, either their luck runs out and there's a car around the blind corner, or the other person doesn't react in time and subsequently crashes.

I was hit once when I turned into a dual carriageway (right) at the same time someone else did (left). She pulled straight into the right hand lane without so much as a flick of the head or indicator.

Her 'excuse' was "no one has ever turned at the same time as her, so she felt she was safe to perform the illegal and dangerous manoeuvre. I showed her the dashcam footage at the time, she honest to god did not believe the video and still said it was my fault.

She then ended up arguing it was my fault with insurance, saying I went in to her lane. I sent insurance the dashcam footage and they chased her for damages.

You can't legislate years of poor behavior out of peoples thick skulls.

tehgerbil:

 

Inphinity:

 

I see a lot of drivers cutting the centreline to go around corners, even on blind corners etc. Most of them are doing 15 - 20 under the speed limit for the area. It's asking for a crash to happen.

 

 

 

 

I'm a strong believer most accidents aren't a once off in poor driving behavior. Drivers who become accustomed to performing ordinarily illegal acts on a regular basis and get away with it due to either dumb luck or relying on the other person to take evasive action.

 

One day, either their luck runs out and there's a car around the blind corner, or the other person doesn't react in time and subsequently crashes.

I was hit once when I turned into a dual carriageway (right) at the same time someone else did (left). She pulled straight into the right hand lane without so much as a flick of the head or indicator.

 

Her 'excuse' was "no one has ever turned at the same time as her, so she felt she was safe to perform the illegal and dangerous manoeuvre. I showed her the dashcam footage at the time, she honest to god did not believe the video and still said it was my fault.

 

She then ended up arguing it was my fault with insurance, saying I went in to her lane. I sent insurance the dashcam footage and they chased her for damages.

 

You can't legislate years of poor behavior out of peoples thick skulls.

 

But you can legislate to fine her $150 for being seen careless driving, and now $2500 for another offence, and she knows the next one is $7500 plus lose car for a month. At some point she will continue to be unsafe but make an effort to protect her bank account. At least she will now be safer even though she is still wrong