Road toll shows need for vigilance   1 Jan 2015

New Zealand Government

Hon Craig Foss
Associate Minister of Transport
1 January 2015 Media Statement

Road toll shows need for vigilance

The provisional road toll for 2014 is 297, Associate Transport Minister Craig Foss says.

“Each number in the road toll represents a lost life — someone who will forever be missed by their family, friends and community. That’s the real impact of crashes on our roads,” Mr Foss says.

“Let's also not forget that for every fatality, there are dozens more people hurt — many of them seriously, leaving them and their families to cope with life-long and debilitating injuries.”

Provisional data for 2014 indicates drugs and alcohol contributed to about 25 per cent of fatal and 21 per cent of serious injury crashes.

Mr Foss says the data also shows about 21 per cent of drivers and 33 per cent of passengers killed in car crashes in 2014 were not wearing seatbelts or using an appropriate child restraint.

“Wearing a seatbelt can be the difference between life and death.

“Drivers, passengers, cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians can all help make the road a safer place by following the rules.

“Together we help ensure the road toll continues its overall decline,” Mr Foss says.

Notes for editors:

The 2013 road toll, the lowest in 60 years, was reduced by one to 253 following a recent coroner’s ruling.

Injury statistics for 2014 are not yet available. There is typically a half-year time lag before all the reported number of injuries are finalised in the crash analysis system.

The Ministry of Transport releases an annual report on motor vehicle crashes, based on the previous year’s data. The latest report is available at:
www.transport.govt.nz/research/roadcrashstatistics/motorvehiclecrashesinnewzealand

The Ministry uses this report to create crash fact sheets looking at individual issues such as speed and drink-driving. The latest fact sheets are available at:www.transport.govt.nz/research/crashfacts/

ENDS

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