Bennett David: Land Transport (Road Safety and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Bennett David: Land Transport (Road Safety and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:672;Page:18427] 
DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 Thank you for the opportunity to speak on the Land Transport (Road Safety and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. First of all I congratulate the Minister of Transport on bringing this series of legislation before the House. This legislation is here to deal with road safety issues. It is formulated on the basis of the  
Safer Journeys 
 document which is the Government’s road safety strategy to 2020 and represents real and positive steps being made in the road safety arena that have not been made in the last decade by the previous Government. It shows a fair and balanced approach and is taking a measured approach looking at what can be done now and what will set up for the future any further developments that the Parliament wishes to pursue. 
I congratulate the Minister on taking these initiatives on being bold and actually doing it and on pressing the bill through the Parliament with the support of the other parties. I thank those other parties that will vote for this bill today. I understand that we will have a lot of support in passing this legislation which is important in sending a signal that this Government and this Parliament are serious about road safety and wish the best for all our drivers young and old to make sure that they have the ability to use and benefit from our roads in a safe and secure manner. 
I thank members of the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee—some have already spoken and others will speak—for the way that they approached the issues involved. They took a very serious approach and looked to make as many changes as could be made in promoting this bill so that we had the best possible legislation going forward through the select committee process. I also thank the officials. We acknowledge the work that they did through that process and thank them for their efforts in bringing this bill to fruition. 
Basically the bill has two main parts to it. First is the driving age which is now raised from 15 to 16 years. This is a major change to the driving laws especially for young people in New Zealand. The second part is the toughening of sanctions for serious and repeat drink-driving offenders. Those two parts are the major policy initiatives that this legislation represents. There have been arguments around the driving age as to whether 15 16 or higher is appropriate. Effectively the age of 16 brings New Zealand to an approach consistent with that of Australia and other States that have been shown to have an effective approach and have shown results from increasing the driving age. There are also rules and regulations around supervision and the process of getting a full driver’s licence that should also ensure that young drivers become good drivers when they pass their test and are able to look after themselves and other road users. 
The other part of the legislation at the forefront is the sanctions for serious and repeat drink-driving offenders. Lowering the legal youth drink-driving blood-alcohol concentration to zero which members have spoken about in this debate is an important part of those sanctions. It is another signal to young drivers that drinking and driving is not acceptable. There will also be the introduction of alcohol interlocks for repeat offenders who have very high blood-alcohol levels which will enable the introduction of zero drink-driving limits for those serious offenders. 
Also there will be further research on the risks posed by drivers with a blood-alcohol concentration between 0.05 grams and 0.08 grams and there will be a strengthening of the penalties for offences causing death. Members will see that strengthening in clause 19 of the bill which has imprisonment of 10 years as a possible penalty for somebody who causes death through drink-driving. 
It will also allow the police to gather further evidence of those drivers involved in fatal or serious crashes. Road safety will be promoted in a number of other ways through the collection and analysis of blood specimens and the tightening of work-time requirements to prevent fatigue in certain drivers. 
Essentially the bill is based around road safety. It is in the best interests of all New Zealand drivers. The two key parts of it relate to the minimum age for driving and also drink-driving limits. We see this bill as an important step in making our roads safer and also in looking after our young and older drivers throughout New Zealand. I commend it to the House and congratulate all those involved in making this legislation a reality today. Thank you.