Copeland Gordon: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Copeland Gordon: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:635;Page:6424] 
13.  
GORDON COPELAND (United Future) 
 to the  
Minister for Transport Safety 
: Is he concerned that last year drivers aged 15 to 24 were involved in 142 fatal road accidents in which they were at fault 83 percent of the time and that the social cost of crashes in which drivers in this age group were at fault totalled roughly $1 billion; if so what is he going to do about it? 
Hon HARRY DUYNHOVEN (Minister for Transport Safety) 
: 
 Yes I certainly am concerned. In the interests of further developing road safety policy the Government recently ran the See You There—Safe As programme’s process of stakeholder engagement which I hope United Future took the opportunity to be involved in. The young driver crash rate was highlighted as an area of concern and I have always said it is. I hope that announcements on future policy direction will be made shortly and I look forward to the support of United Future for those policies. 
Gordon Copeland 
: Why has the Government so far failed to take decisive action to tackle young driver crashes in spite of the appalling death and injury statistics the cost to Vote Health and the pleas for action now from the young victims of these road crashes—if they are still alive—and their families? 
Hon HARRY DUYNHOVEN 
: I think it is a little unfair to say that the Government has not taken steps. We have done a large number of things beginning some time back with the introduction of specific measures to tackle boy racers and the Street Talk and defensive driving courses. The Government has taken a large number of initiatives and we have had some success. 
Ron Mark 
: Noting the Minister’s concerns why has the Government not moved to make third-party car insurance compulsory as a mechanism to make it harder for irresponsible drivers to own powerful vehicles and to misuse them? 
Hon HARRY DUYNHOVEN 
: This has been an issue since I first raised it in the House in 1988. The insurance companies and Governments over that time have certainly struggled with the issue. There is a very good reason to proceed with compulsory third-party insurance in my personal view. It is one of the issues that is currently being looked at by the Government in the process of the See You There—Safe As campaign which has been very successful around the country. The particular initiative mentioned by the member has a large degree of support from the public. 
Hon Mark Gosche 
: What progress has been made in reducing the road toll? 
Hon HARRY DUYNHOVEN 
: Very good progress. Between the years 1999 and 2005—that is the term of this Government for which we have accurate figures—the rate of road fatalities per 10000 vehicles reduced by 35 percent. The number of fatalities in the last 12 months is at a level not seen since 1963 when several members of the House were not even born. Research shows there is an ongoing 8 percent reduction in young and novice driver crash rates. That reduction is associated with the graduated driver’s-licence system which was brought in during the fourth Labour Government and is actually now being successfully copied by many jurisdictions overseas. 
Chester Borrows 
: Does the Minister accept that the quota system for issuing traffic tickets even though it is described as a performance target indicator actually encourages police to sit at so-called fishing holes and issue tickets to lots of minor infringers rather than sit at black spots and target those drivers at serious risk of causing death and injury? 
Hon HARRY DUYNHOVEN 
: There is a certain amount of irony in that question being posed by the member; I think he as a former serving police officer would certainly agree that cutting down the average speed on the open road has actually benefited the road toll. But I certainly agree with him that we should be targeting those who are excessive offenders. For that reason there has been a real determination by this Government to make the highway patrol not only more visible but far more active. 
Gordon Copeland 
: Is the Minister familiar with the call by the Automobile Association—with its 1.2 million members and associates—the Insurance Council the Accident Compensation Corporation and the police for defensive driving and attitudinal courses and for tighter rules around new-driver licensing processes? 
Hon HARRY DUYNHOVEN 
: Yes I certainly am and I have been involved in discussions with those organisations over a number of years. The recent See You There—Safe As programme which was extremely successful around the country with over 1000 New Zealanders voluntarily participating actually saw a considerable number of these issues raised. Members can be sure that these issues are being taken into account by the Government. I look forward to making announcements with my colleague the Minister for Transport who is also the Minister of Police on these issues in the future. 
I seek leave to table two documents. One is a booklet  
Information for Stakeholder Engagement 
 on the See You There—Safe As programme that we ran. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is objection. 
Hon HARRY DUYNHOVEN 
: The second is a document prepared by the Ministry of Transport on young drivers that gives a whole lot of very useful statistics on crash rates causes etc. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? Yes there is objection.