The Road Ahead Conference 2022 Transporting New Zealand’s The Road Ahead Conference took place in September at Invercargill’s Ascot Park Hotel, to discuss what’s ahead for transport operators as the world looks to recover from the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. The conference focused on a changing workforce, sustainability and environmental requirements, future fuel sources, supply chain issues, and disruptors such as the digital revolution. Over the following five issues, we will summarise the key topics discussed. This issue, we look at the key points from Minister of Transport Michael Wood, National’s transport spokesperson Simeon Brown, and economist Cameron Bagrie.
Michael Wood Minister of Transport
The most important area of the land transport sector is safety, according to Minister of Transport Michael Wood, who presented to the conference via Zoom. “We all want to ensure that every time someone pops in their car, they are going to get home safely at the end of the day,” he says. “Yet in New Zealand, we have a record that doesn’t always live up to that.” On average, one person is killed a day on New Zealand roads and around another seven are seriously injured. Wood says the government’s Road to Zero strategy is about putting an end to “just accepting” poor road statistics. “I think collectively, as a country, we’ve done this for too long. There wouldn’t be any other sector where we just accept that several hundred people die every year,” he says. “In the language we use, for example, calling it the ‘road toll’ – we’re saying that this is the price you pay to use a piece of road. This puts us on the wrong pathway when really our approach should be to relentlessly focus on how we make sure that people are not killed or seriously injured on our roads.” The government has an interim target to achieve a 40% reduction in death and serious injuries by 2030. “It’s an ambitious target, but we know, based on evidence and international examples, that if we do the right things we can do it and we can save many lives.”
102 New Zealand Trucking
November 2022
Wood says Road Zero is about looking at all the different levers across the land transport system. “That means we need safer vehicles, safer drivers, safer roads, and safer speeds. It’s going to take all four of these if we really want to change the system. “The government’s putting its money where our mouths are on this as well. We’re investing around about $2.7 billion to make sure that we support the actions that are necessary within Road to Zero,” he says. “That’s across police enforcement, improvements to roads and making sure that we support drivers to be as safe and well-trained as possible. It’s about recognising that even the very best drivers will sometimes make mistakes, so we need to build and maintain a system that means those mistakes don’t become fatal or don’t cause a serious incident.” Wood says the government is working on road safety penalties. “We know that discouraging bad choices through risk-taking with appropriate fines and penalties and good enforcement… backing that up can make a significant difference,” he says. “We increased the penalties for cellphone use last year, and we’re now carefully working through a package of proposals to make sure we are sending the right message to all road users about the need to work within the rules to keep everyone on the road safe.” Wood says about 25% of the deaths on New Zealand roads involve a person who is driving to work. “We know that there
are many players who have an impact here. The chain of responsibility holds that it is not only commercial drivers who are responsible for safety, but all the people and actors that influence driver behaviours,” he says. “You’ll know about the pressure that comes on you and your teams from other players in the supply chain that can sometimes create unsafe situations. Those players have a responsibility as well and they must be held accountable if their influence results in non-compliance with traffic rules and laws, which puts people on the roads at risk.”
Simeon Brown
Simeon Brown National Party transport spokesperson
Meanwhile, National’s transport spokesperson Simeon Brown says the government needs to tackle underlying cost pressures and remove bottlenecks in the economy. “This is a challenging time as we’ve moved from Covid through to a time with significant cost pressures, which are coming through to [the transport] industry, particularly with fuel prices that have reached record highs this year,” he says. “There is a need to make sure that cost pressures are kept under control, and the government has a critical role in understanding the impact this has and how it flows through to every industry in New Zealand.” Brown says the cost of living is the critical issue going into the next election. “There are many things outside of the
