Joyce Steven: Land Transport (Road Safety and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Joyce Steven: Land Transport (Road Safety and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:672;Page:18424] 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister of Transport) 
: 
 I move  
That the Land Transport (Road Safety and Other Matters) Amendment Bill be now read a third time 
. I thank members for their work on this bill. It has been given a thorough examination and the amendments have made a good bill even better. 
The promotion of road safety is a very important task. Sadly and despite the best efforts of lawmakers enforcement staff engineers and others in the community road crashes still have a very significant impact in New Zealand. Far too many of us grieve the loss of loved ones killed in crashes on our roads. These crashes also impose considerable economic and social costs on our communities. For these reasons I have been pleased and privileged to be able to promote this bill which I am confident will further reduce the trauma and social costs arising from road crashes. 
It is worth noting that the Government has been very active in seeking to improve road safety during the short 2½ years it has been in office. We have not been afraid to take steps to help reduce the road toll where the evidence supports those steps. We have passed legislation dealing with illegal street-racing and drug-driving and introduced a ban on using cellphones while driving. We are currently preparing legislation that will change the give-way rule and include measures to improve motorcycle safety. 
We have reoriented our investment in new infrastructure to improve capacity and safety outcomes on our busiest and most dangerous highways with the roads of national significance programme. Today we have the final reading of the most significant road safety legislation this House has seen since the Land Transport Act was passed in 1998. 
It is also noteworthy that the House is considering this important road safety legislation at this time as 11 May marks the beginning of the UN-sponsored Decade of Action for Road Safety. New Zealand will be the first country in the world to mark this important date and the provisions in this bill along with the first action plan for Safer Journeys—our Road Safety Strategy—will provide an appropriate way to commemorate this global event. 
The most significant road safety advances in this bill are improving the safety of young drivers addressing the dangers posed by high-risk drivers and improving the enforceability of existing road safety provisions. The bill aims to improve young driver safety by increasing the minimum licensing age from 15 to 16 introducing a zero breath-alcohol limit for drivers under 20 and allowing the New Zealand Transport Agency to toughen up the practical licensing test that is necessary to obtain a restricted driver’s licence. 
These are important and vital steps in enabling us to reduce the number of young drivers who are killed on our roads. If we can match the safety levels that Australia has reached we could based on 2009 figures save up to 25 young lives a year. The date from which this increased licensing age takes effect is 1 August this year. I consider that having a specific date—from the start of a month—in the legislation will assist young people parents and caregivers to be clear about when the change takes effect. 
The harm caused by high-risk drivers is completely disproportionate to their numbers. These drivers include those who use our roads while grossly intoxicated and those who are repeat drink-driving offenders. The bill will allow the courts to require these drivers to have alcohol interlocks fitted to their car at their own expense. Alcohol interlocks are a new initiative for New Zealand but they are well proven overseas. Although they are not a silver bullet they are a new tool in the toolbox for dealing with these drivers making it clear to them that they have to separate their drinking from their driving. 
In the same light the bill provides for a new zero breath-alcohol level for these drivers. This is another new tool and it will apply for 3 years after a driver receives his or her licence back after a disqualification. These are major steps towards correcting these drivers’ dangerous behaviour on our roads and it will be an important part of improving the safety of our road system. 
I know that the Land Transport and Industrial Relations Committee received a lot of submissions requesting that the adult drink-drive limit be lowered. It is to the committee’s credit that it accepted that more specific New Zealand research needs to be carried out to identify the actual harm caused by blood-alcohol levels between the possible lower limit of 0.05 grams and the current limit of 0.08 grams. This bill will enable this work to be undertaken by police and Ministry of Transport officials so that the Government can be properly informed as to the benefits of lowering the adult blood-alcohol level. 
Finally the bill will allow for the retirement of the Transport Act 1962. It will modernise and update laws and processes especially around rule-making. It will allow road controlling authorities to make bylaws in respect of a greater range of issues and it will make a number of improvements to existing provisions to improve their enforceability. 
These changes will contribute to improved road safety and efficiency in the sector. An example of this is the amended definition of “work time” coupled with a new power to enable the police to use search warrants to obtain evidence of breaches of work time. These provisions reflect the importance of ensuring that our heavy-vehicle drivers comply with work time and rest requirements. I know that industry bodies welcome these changes as they will allow a more level playing field for the law-abiding. I hope these changes will in turn contribute to the very pleasing downward trend in fatal truck crashes that we are seeing. 
The Land Transport (Road Safety and Other Matters) Amendment Bill is an important bill and I am confident that it will support all our efforts to reduce the road toll and in so doing make our country safer. I think we are doing a good thing today in passing this bill and I commend the bill to the House.