Safety

New Zealand roads ‘an accident waiting to happen’, says campaigner

Many fatalities could be prevented through simple changes in road design, says the car review website dogandlemon.com.

Editor Clive Matthew Wilson, who is an outspoken road safety campaigner, says:

“Many of New Zealand's roads are like a staircase without a handrail: you make a mistake, you're going to get hurt. Upgrading these deadly roads is the single most important step in lowering the road toll.”

Matthew-Wilson gave the example of the Auckland harbour bridge, which used to suffer one serious accident a week.

How was an offender with so many charges left unsupervised?

A road safety campaigner is ‘gobsmacked’ that a 15-year-old, who died after a police chase, was not being electronically monitored.

Morocco Tai, who died early on Monday when his stolen car lost control, was facing multiple charges from previous car chases, including unlawfully taking a vehicle, dangerous driving, failing to stop for police, aggravated robbery and unlawfully getting into a vehicle.

In a previous chase he was a passenger in a car that was driven the wrong way up an Auckland motorway.

Economy, cheap fuel, bikes and trucks drive high road toll

The government needs to fix our roads, move freight onto rail, make it harder to get a motorbike licence and target high risk drivers, says the car review website dogandlemon.com.

Editor and road safety campaigner, Clive Matthew-Wilson, says:

Politicans ignore 363 dead bodies

Road accidents – a major killer in New Zealand – are being ignored during the election campaign, says the car review website dogandlemon.com.

Editor Clive Matthew Wilson, who is an outspoken road safety campaigner, says:

Politicians ‘cowards’ over road safety, says campaigner

The road toll will continue to rise until politicians address the real causes of accidents, says the car review website dogandlemon.com.

Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson, who has been campaigning for safer roads and cars for over 20 years, says the public is being deliberately misinformed for political gain.

Ban on renting vehicles to tired travellers would save lives, says safety campaigner

An outspoken road safety campaigner has repeated a call for a ban on renting vehicles to travellers who have just arrived in New Zealand.

The call comes after two young Singaporeans were killed in a two-vehicle smash in Canterbury, just hours after arriving in the country.

Higher speed limit common sense, says safety campaigner

A proposal to raise the speed limit to 110km/h on selected roads is simply keeping up with the times, says the car review website dogandlemon.com.

“Modern highways are infinitely safer than roads of even twenty years ago, yet the speed limit has not budged. Driving at 110km/h on suitable highways is far safer than driving at 100km/h on many ordinary rural roads.”

Ex-cop expresses concern at police budget cuts

A proposal to axe 26 police from the Commercial Vehicle Investigation Unit[1] has exposed deep flaws in police management, says the car review website dogandlemon.com.

Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson, who is an outspoken road safety campaigner, says the proposal suggests the police management have lost their way.

Motorcycle levy system a failure, says safety campaigner

The government’s ACC motorbike levy system, which was meant to help meet the higher costs of bike accidents, has not improved road safety, says the car review website dogandlemon.com.

The levy system has raised over $15 million, but the majority of it, which was supposed to be spent on road safety projects, remains unspent.

$2.9 million had been spent on road safety projects up to October 2016, projected to grow to $6.3 million by June 2017.

Time to get serious about road safety

The police should have the power to temporarily impound vehicles for seatbelt violations and permanently seize cellphones used by drivers in moving vehicles, says the car review website dogandlemon.com.

 

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