Harawira Hone: Land Transport (Road Safety and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Harawira Hone: Land Transport (Road Safety and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:666;Page:14080] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
 Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker. Kia ora tatou katoa e te Whare. I note a couple of things when I look through the stats on this take. The first point is that Polynesians drive less often than Pakeha—probably because we cannot afford cars as much as they can—but we get hurt in more accidents; the rate is three times higher than for non-Maori and we die more often from car accidents. The figure is 20 percent for Maori compared with 8 percent for non-Maori or 20 out of every 10000 for Maori compared with eight per 10000 for non-Maori. 
The second point is that Maori children are injured a lot more often than non-Maori in car accidents. A big part of that is about where a lot of Maori people live. For example Tai Tokerau and more specifically the Far North District Council has more unsealed roads than any other district in the whole country. It is a problem made worse by the fact that our rating base is not strong because of low socio-economic conditions. So there is not a lot of spare money to spend on roading improvements and on top of all that our roads are subject to massive wear and tear from forestry trucks as well. So the state of our roads is a major factor in that area as it is down the coast as well. 
Then there is the state of a lot of the vehicles on our roads. I see a lot of them up close when I am hitchhiking around the north and I do not mind admitting that I have got into some pretty dodgy looking vehicles over the last few years. But people have to use their cars and keep them running even without a warrant and registration because there is very little in the way of public transport which is another major factor. 
Driving behaviour is a problem common to all but it is made worse by our road conditions. There is too much speeding too much drinking and too little use of seatbelts. 
On top of those factors a lot of Maori are young—very young—so in terms of death rates from accidents their rates are more than twice that of the rest of the population. For young Maori those rates are even worse: 14 per 10000 compared with just three per 10000 for non-Maori. Given the horrific statistics that apply to Maori particularly young Maori I was more than a little disappointed but not particularly surprised that in the whole 93 pages of the Land Transport (Road Safety and Other Matters) Amendment Bill Maori do not get a mention at all. 
So what can we do about it? Well one thing I have noticed is that local health providers are working with whanau to make sure that all kids have car seats and they are teaching everyone how important it is for kids to use them. Defensive driving courses help. I know because my mokopuna has been asking for money to do a defensive driving course to shorten his time on a restricted licence. That is two pluses for me: he learns to drive better and my lawns get mowed three times to pay for the course. 
The Street Talk defensive driving courses like those being run at the Manukau Urban Maori Authority in conjunction with Te Wananga o Aotearoa help drivers improve their driving behaviour. Fran Hokianga reckons—and I am not sure about this; it sounds pretty cool—that they see about 70 students a month. She tells us that the wananga has a 98 percent pass rate and that the 2 percent who do not pass are the ones who do not show up at all. So it is good to see those kinds of initiatives being supported in the bill. 
We support the proposed zero breath/blood alcohol concentration for drivers aged under 20 but we would make that the case for all drivers not just for young ones. Although it is true that drinking is a problem for young people it is true that drinking is a huge problem for our whole society and our kids are really just playing follow my daddy. 
We know that increasing fines does not work because they just stack up the odds against people and make them more devious and more dangerous. 
We do not like the police getting new powers for blood collection particularly given their deceitful record in getting DNA under dubious circumstances over the past few years. 
We do not support for a whole host of reasons the proposal to raise the minimum driving age particularly in rural communities and we are disappointed that there is not enough in the bill about road safety awareness for young drivers. The better informed they are the better chance there is that they will behave better particularly in crisis situations. 
The Maori Party will support the bill to go through its first reading to allow for Maori groups and individuals who have a stake in this issue to make submissions to the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee on how they think the bill might be changed to improve services to Maori in the future. Our vote beyond the first reading will be determined by what we hear through the select committee process. Tena koe.