Road Policing in New Zealand
Road crashes result in more years of life being lost than any other source of injury and are the leading cause of death to children and of disability to 14-44 year-olds.
The impact on families, the community and the health system makes road safety a key public health and injury prevention issue.
Road Policing is core business for New Zealand Police. Police works with a wide range of organisations including New Zealand Transport Agency and the Ministry of Transport to reduce road trauma.
Transport Minister Steven Joyce has released a new strategy designed to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on our roads over the next decade.
The strategy – Safer Journeys – takes a system wide approach by looking at the safety of roads, road users, vehicles and speed. This approach is world best practice but a first for New Zealand.
The top priorities for action in the strategy are:
- Young drivers
- Alcohol and drug impaired drivers
- Motorcycling
- Roads and roadsides
- Safer speeds
The Safer Journeys strategy, Questions and Answers, and a table of first actions are available at www.saferjourneys.govt.nz
