Bennett David: Land Transport Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBennett David: Land Transport Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 03 December 2013. Volume:695;Page:15136. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East): Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson): You are welcome.DAVID BENNETT: It is a pleasure. Just speaking in regard to the Land Transport Amendment Bill it is a very good bill brought to the House by the Minister of Transport. It is something that as that last speaker Iain Lees-Galloway and the Minister said has been a long time coming. There is a public opinion I believe that it will be supported amongst the community. I think that the time is now right for this bill and it is ready.Sue Moroney: It’s too late.DAVID BENNETT: The Opposition over there—we have Miss Moroney chirping in. Labour had 9 years in Government. They were high road toll years and Labour did nothing about that. It did nothing. It is all right for its members to say those things now but when they had the chance they did not act. We are acting. We have got the research. We are putting this bill up and we have acted in a very consistent way.TheSafer Journeys: discussion document was the first step in that. It looked at roads to make sure that the roading quality was up to standard and it looked at some of the rules around driver education and driving. At that time we brought in the zero blood-alcohol rate for young people so young people have a zero limit for alcohol when driving. That was the first step and that was an important crucial step in this process.This bill is the next step where we are looking at the rate between 0.05 and 0.08 blood-alcohol concentration. That is something that we need to do at this time. When we look at the question that Labour Party members have asked they have used figures of the total road deaths that may be alcohol attributed. It is important to look at the numbers that are in that range. The numbers we have are that there are about five fatalities and 62 serious injuries that result from that range. Any death on our roads is one too many but it is a small proportion of the 80 or 120 or 140 deaths that the Labour Party has attributed to alcohol. You must remember that when we take this bill into account.It is not so much that this bill will stop deaths on our roads due to alcohol but it is another step in sending the right signal to our drivers. It is about sending the signal that if a person drinks and drives they are not only putting their lives at risk but they are putting other people’s lives at risk and they will get caught. They will have to deal with the consequences of getting caught.One of the questions will be around whether we have a fines system or a demerit system or whether you lose your licence if you are in that blood-alcohol range. This is a bill that takes a very balanced approach and brings in that infringement fine and demerit point approach for that range. It is a transition for New Zealanders it is an understanding of what it takes to drive on the roads and it is part of the education process. New Zealanders have basically got the message but there are some who have not got that message. They drink large quantities of alcohol and drive and cause very difficult situations for our emergency services and for many people involved in those crashes.There is a possibility that you could go as the Labour Party is talking about to totally losing your licence if you are over that limit. That is a possibility. However when we look at those limits—and I am sure this will come out in the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee—those balances between zero and 0.08 blood-alcohol concentration are very difficult to actually quantify scientifically and personally with different people and their ability to absorb alcohol and all those other things. There is a set range.This bill takes into account the different aspects of the ability of people to drive and also to accommodate what alcohol may be in their system. But it sends a very clear message that any alcohol is putting you as a driver in danger of incurring an infringement with the police and that is the message that we want to send to people—that they should not drink and drive. We have done that with young people. This is the process whereby we are doing that with the adult population. This is a good bill. It is on the right track and in the right frame. The select committee will I am sure have a good look at it to make sure that we get it through the House as well as possible. Thank you.