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Safety
Making Auckland’s transport system safe by eliminating harm to people
Auckland has one of the highest rates of pedestrian, cyclist and motorcyclist road deaths in the world. However while AT has made good progress toward reaching its Vision Zero goal of no deaths and serious injuries (DSI) on Auckland roads by 2050, it’s disappointing and upsetting to see the downward trend since 2017 increase in the last year. With less traffic on our roads following the second COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, the average speeds at which people travelled in their cars increased and there was a significant uplift in DSI: Provisional indications to the end of June 2021 count 46 deaths and 485 serious injuries. This is not good enough, and AT is committed, along with the Tamaki Makaurau Transport Safety Governance Group (TMTSGG), to working more closely together to make Auckland’s transport system safe for all. A Speed Limits Bylaw was introduced in 2019, and new and safe speed limits were rolled out on more than 600 local roads on 30 June 2020 (90% in rural areas). Over the last year safety improvements have been made to four high risk roads, 12 high risk intersections and 10 pedestrian crossing facilities, and another seven red-light running enforcement cameras and CCTV cameras were added to improve network performance. Road users are a critical part of the safety equation, and AT runs an extensive Safe Speeds Programme to increase road safety awareness. Speeds in the city centre were also lowered and include a substantial adoption of 30 km/hr limits. SAFE & LIVEABLE Getting everyone home safe: We help Aucklanders stay safe on the region’s roads, on our public transport system, and our walking and cycling networks
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AT works with schools, mana whenua, Mataawaka and community groups to assist young drivers with the Graduated Licesing System (GLS), increase road safety awareness and promote active travel and public transport use, the use of child restraints, safe driving, and to highlight the risks of driver distraction. This year AT delivered 258 road safety initiatives, which include community-based interventions, checkpoints with NZ Police, and regional campaigns. The Travelwise Schools Programme is designed to increase road safety awareness, active travel and public transport use by school students to lower speed around schools, and to improve safety for walking and cycling to school. AT delivered 1,568 Travelwise activities including 15 ambassador workshops and 75 scooter training sessions. The Te Ara Haepapa Māori Road Safety Education Programme delivered 207 initiatives in marae and Te Kura o te Kaupapa Māori communities. These included Kaihautu Raihana Akonga (Learner Licence) and Raihana Whītiki/Tuturu (Restricted and Full) programmes for mana whenua - and Mataawaka Māori in an effort to reduce Māori DSI.
AT supports 360 active Walking School Buses across the region. There were 559 Walking School Bus activities with 120 new routes across the region. Over the last year AT invested in new technology to improve public transport safety, and increased the number of Transport Officers on selected bus and ferry routes to monitor compliance and provide frontline customer service. We also applied COVID-19 safety measures across the AT network to promote social distancing on public transport, roads and in public spaces.
The AT Board recently endorsed the Road Safety Business Improvement Review 2021 (BIR), a report on AT’s progress against 45 road safety recommendations made by international road safety expert Eric Howard in 2018. He found that AT had achieved highly positive results to date and made further recommendations toward achieving Vision Zero.
The report shows, that out of 75 actions related to AT responsibilities, 28 have been substantially or completely implemented, 28 have achieved satisfactory progress and action continues, 18 are underway with unsatisfactory progress and one has not yet progressed from 2018. The focus for AT and its road safety partners over the next six months will be on the top 10 priority recommendations that will have the greatest impact in reducing DSI on the road network.
AUCKLAND ROADS ACTUAL AND PREDICTED ROAD DEATHS AND SERIOUS INJURIES (DSI) 2013 – 2021
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0 Predicted 2021/22 SOI DSI Target
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Local road deaths Local road serious injuries Total
AT has achieved highly positive results to date for its community and this achievement cannot be underappreciated
Eric Howard
Top 10 BIR 2021 Recommendations:
The highest priority recommendations in terms of importance and urgency (out of the 31 identified) are listed here in order.
2. Substantially improve deterrence of speeding
3. Pursue significant road safety regulatory reform at a national level
4. Deliver improved pedestrian (and other people outside vehicles) safety across the arterials and other roads in the network
5. Advocate for and advise on policy reform at a national level 6. Lower travel speeds across higher-risk sections of the Auckland network
7. Expand safer urban infrastructure treatment programmes, in association with safer speed limit introductions, to continue to lower death and serious injury (DSI) across the road network
8. AT to substantially ramp up investment in/resourcing of capabilities for informed road safety partnership activities with local Auckland partners, plus other stakeholders and national partners 9. With AT Board and chief executive leadership, AT to continue to work to genuinely embed the Vision
Zero and Safe System principles in all they do to achieve a 65% reduction in
DSI by 2030 and zero DSI by 2050 for their community
10. Ensure health and safety responsibilities cover transport network operating risks.
Safety on the harbour
The Auckland Harbourmaster’s Office provides a critical function in managing and promoting marine safety. In the past year the Harbourmaster team was heavily involved with the on-water planning and execution of the Prada Cup and 36th America’s Cup. The Harbourmaster applied for the Minister of Transport to declare both events a Major Maritime Event, thereby allowing the course areas to be regulated and the volunteer Course Marshalls to be appointed as Enforcement Officers by Auckland Council. Transit lanes were established around each of the courses to enable free passage of vessels, including ferries, and commercial shipping movements were suspended during race day afternoons. A 5-knot speed limit was implemented at the conclusion of each days’ racing and this proved to be instrumental in ensuring that there were no incidents during the busy passage back to the Inner Harbour. Harbourmaster patrol vessels were deployed on each race day to ensure that vessels complied with rules and regulations, and the event was completed successfully without any notable incidents.
