National Road Carriers Association

By James Smith, COO, of National Road Carriers Association

James Smith

investment for 10 years of state highway improvements to be shared publicly. It would help with the Road to Zero dialogue if such a programme was shared and all stakeholders could understand the plan and work towards it. But it must be agreed by all political parties as roading requires a long-term commitment that transcends political cycles.

What’s holding us back from getting a safer network? What’s stopping us from getting the infrastructure improvements we need? And what are we doing to address the causes of at-risk driver behaviour?

It’s not just about stopping people from driving slightly over the speed limit. And it’s not about putting people through an advanced driving course – that’s been shown not to work. In fact, it can make things worse by falsely bolstering confidence. And it can’t be about enforcement because we can’t have traffic police sitting on every piece of road that has been identified as high crash risk.

Drivers can be deceived by distances in New Zealand. Journeys take much longer than similar length trips in other countries because our geography and roads are more challenging. A 360-kilometre trip from Auckland to New Plymouth that takes about five hours would be much less on high-quality European roads. People underestimate the effort and concentration required to drive safely on our roads.

Road safety is a science that is often counter-intuitive. More warning signs aren’t the answer. University of Waikato research shows people don’t see, comprehend, or remember signs – apart from the electronic signs that flash up your speed to get you to slow down. The research showed the only static signs that stuck in memories were McDonalds’ golden arches!

One counter-intuitive option that does make roads safer is to make them appear narrower with road markings. It’s amazing how a line of paint can create a perception that makes drivers slow down and be more careful. Even new safety technology in vehicles, while helpful, is not fool-proof.

Unless we have open and honest conversations about the barriers to creating a robust, reliable, safe road network, people will suffer under the illusion that we can improve without making real and effective changes to our state highway network.

What is stopping us from having curb easements or centre barriers. Is it a money shortage or a resource issue? In many cases our roads are too narrow for these safety measures – that itself is a clue. If it is impossible to improve or roads given our finance and resource constraints, let’s be honest and admit that.

Everyone agrees there is too much carnage on our roads. But all the talk about Road to Zero isn’t lessening that. We need a national conversation about what a safe system looks like – and the answer is not everyone staying at home. We are starting the conversation at our Trucking Industry Summit on 30 July which will be in progress or just finished by the time you read this.

There is no question that our state highway network and local strategic freight corridors need significant work to bring them up to a first-world standard. The sooner New Zealand adopts a longterm plan to get us there, the better.

The NRC team is always available to assist anyone who chooses transport as their occupation. If there is anything you need assistance with, please call us on 0800 686 777. T&D