Boyack Rachel; O'Connor GregLAND TRANSPORT (ROAD SAFETY) AMENDMENT BILLSecond ReadingDebate resumed from 2 August.RACHEL BOYACK (Labour—Nelson): Thank you Mr Speaker. It's a privilege to stand and take a call on the Land Transport (Road Safety) Amendment Bill. This bill particularly concerns the issues of fleeing drivers and the safety concerns that result from people misusing a vehicle and refusing to stop for police.There have been a number of these cases throughout New Zealand where we do have drivers who flee from police and unfortunately there are times when that leads to devastating crashes and devastating injuries and deaths from both those who are in the vehicles that are fleeing but also other vehicles. I do want to just put on record and I have spoken about this case in a previous call on this bill. In 2018 we lost a woman in Nelson who was driving to work early on a weekend morning and was traveling down a rural road and there was a fleeing driver who was fleeing from police at the time and crashed into the vehicle and devastatingly she lost her life leaving her teenage children without a mother. The ripples of that were felt throughout the community.I think we all in this House acknowledge that the issue of fleeing drivers is one that there's no excuse and no reasonable excuse at all for people who behave in that way and the impacts felt on the people who are the victims of such terrible offences are devastating.One of the matters relating to fleeing drivers I just want to note is about the role of the police in making that risk assessment on the day on their ability to—of whether it is safe or not to pursue a fleeing driver. It is a really challenging psychological issue where there are unfortunately times when by being chased it can lead to you a young person particularly speeding up even more and actually make the situation worse. One of the things we have to take care real care about in this House is ensuring that police can make the right operational decisions based on a proper risk assessment of the risk of pursuing a fleeing driver.I know that has been a matter of some debate at times in this House and in the public but ultimately we do need to rely on the expertise of the police to make those decisions rather than politicians making those decisions.But we are also very clear that such an offence is an offence. It's a terrible offence. A vehicle is a very dangerous item for someone to use in such a way. It can do significant damage just like any other weapon—and a vehicle can essentially become a weapon in these matters. So it's important from the Government's point of view that we are taking steps to really crack down on fleeing drivers in terms of the offences that are there.The Justice Committee has examined this bill and recommends that it be passed. It seeks to reduce unsafe behaviour on New Zealand roads by increasing the severity of enforcements for fleeing drivers. What it would do is amend the Land Transport Act to lengthen the period for which an enforcement officer may seize and impound a vehicle from the current 28 days to six months if a driver has failed to stop or remain stopped when required.It also introduces a new offence if a person fails to provide information about a fleeing driver. So if someone has information and refuses to provide that information to the police there's a new power there for a vehicle to be seized and impounded for 28 days. It also increases the licence disqualification period after a second conviction for a failing-to-stop offence from one year to one to two years.It is important that we send a very clear message as a House to people who wish to use vehicle in this way—that they can cause significant and severe damage to people contained in those vehicles and also any other vehicles or members of the public that they may unfortunately come in contact with if they are fleeing and fleeing at a very very high speed.I think unfortunately something that we probably all share in this House is a connection to people who have lost their lives on the roads. I have a cousin who lost his life on a road. I know far too many New Zealanders who've lost their lives on New Zealand roads. It's important that this House continues to take our responsibility seriously to limit the potential for people's lives to be lost on our roads.This is an excellent bill. I do commend the Minister I commend the Justice Committee for their work on it and I commend it to the House.DEPUTY SPEAKER: A five-minute split call—Chris Penk.