Hodgson Pete: Land Transport Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Hodgson Pete: Land Transport Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:618;Page:14283] 
Hon PETE HODGSON (Minister of Transport) 
: 
 I move  
That the Land Transport Amendment Bill be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I will move that the bill be referred to the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee and that the committee have the authority to meet to examine the bill at any time while the House is sitting except during questions for oral answer and during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House; and to meet on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House notwithstanding Standing Orders 191 and 194(1)(b) and (c). 
This Government has a commitment to improving the safety and security of all road users. This bill does that by making the enforcement operation and administration of land transport safety law more efficient and effective in line with the objectives of the Government’s New Zealand Transport Strategy and the Road Safety to 2010 strategy. The bill improves the law concerning the responsibilities of road users traffic offences and penalties and driver licensing and fixes some provisions that are unclear inflexible unenforceable or outdated. 
Although the road toll of 404 in 2002 was the lowest for 40 years the toll last year was 460 and there have been only slightly fewer road deaths so far this year than at the same stage in 2003. Clearly with increased traffic volumes we need new initiatives to improve road safety. Alcohol and excessive speed are the two biggest contributing factors to road crashes in New Zealand together accounting for about 40 percent of all fatal crashes. This bill gets tough on the most serious traffic offenders by reducing the speed and alcohol thresholds for immediate driver’s-licence suspension and increasing the range of penalties for repeat drink-driving including immediate vehicle impoundment. It also requires a wider group of repeat drink-drivers to attend a drug and alcohol assessment centre in order to help rehabilitate more drivers whose offending is rooted in a drinking problem. 
The bill will make the law around driver licensing clearer and more user-friendly. For example it allows a temporary driver’s licence to be issued where a person’s licence has expired or been revoked thus enabling a person to drive for assessment purposes. It requires a photo driver’s licence to show the original issue date rather than the date that the licence was last issued and that will help New Zealand drivers wanting to drive or hire a car in other countries. It allows for the suspension of a driving instructor or testing officer in the interests of public safety and it prohibits driving instruction for financial or commercial gain without a current driving instructor endorsement. 
The bill enhances the ability of courts to deal with people who repeatedly drive while disqualified. Most people convicted of driving while disqualified are recidivists. Many of them build up so many disqualifications that they see no hope of ever regaining their drivers’ licences. They continue to drive and build up further disqualifications. In cases where those offenders present no risk to road safety the bill will allow courts to impose a community-based sentence rather than further disqualification for driving while disqualified. It also enables offenders who have already accumulated long periods of unserved disqualification for disqualified driving to return to court to request a reduction in their outstanding disqualifications on the ground that they can demonstrate to the court that they have attempted to change their behaviour. 
The bill contains amendments to transport operator licensing in line with the conclusions of a review of the licensing system in 2001. It simplifies and clarifies licensing requirements and that will reduce compliance costs for transport operators. The bill also introduces measures to improve commercial drivers’ standards enhance the accountability of taxi organisations and strengthen offences and penalties. It prohibits anyone convicted of a serious violent or sexual offence from being a passenger service driver. 
Following consultation with the transport industry and the general public and in line with a review of the driving hours and logbook system the bill simplifies that system and introduces a new simpler definition of work time. It also alters the penalty system in line with industry concerns to graduate penalties according to the seriousness of the offence. It increases the use of infringement notices and demerit points for logbook and other record-keeping offences. It retains mandatory licence disqualification for driving-hour breaches of more than 1 hour only. It introduces a new “chain of responsibility” offence to ensure that employers and other industry participants are held accountable if they knowingly allow or cause driving-hour breaches and it provides for alternative fatigue-management schemes to encourage operators to take greater responsibility. 
The bill amends provisions concerning vehicles impounded under the Land Transport Act. It reduces the period that storage providers must wait before applying to dispose of an unclaimed vehicle from 28 days to 10 days. That will reduce the cost to storage providers of holding vehicles that are often not roadworthy and of little value. 
Finally the bill contains a number of common-sense amendments to fix various defects in land transport legislation that make it more difficult to enforce or administer. These include making the criteria for appointments to the Land Transport Safety Authority board consistent with the Human Rights Act so that appointees do not have to be New Zealand citizens; preventing the taking of a blood sample at the request of an enforcement officer where that would be prejudicial to the treatment of the patient; permitting the release of driver’s-licence photographs of deceased persons to their next of kin; empowering police to serve at the roadside a notice of licence suspension on a driver with more than 100 demerit points; clarifying the obligations of a driver who is requested to stop by an enforcement officer; ensuring that driving offences involving injury or death apply both on and off a road; creating an offence of failure to report an accident; enabling rental service operators to charge fees for owner-liability offences back to the person hiring the vehicle at the time; and providing an alternative to full vehicle re-inspection when vehicles are ordered off the road for non-compliance with vehicle standards. 
In addition the Greens have raised with me the issue of a lack of distinction in terms of offence and penalty between persons driving on an expired licence and those who drive without any licence. Their suggestion is that it may be appropriate to have a lesser penalty for driving on an expired licence on the basis that forgetting to renew one’s licence is not as serious an offence as driving whilst never having had one. Currently the bill contains a provision that states that “unlicensed” in relation to a driver includes holding an expired licence. However the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee may choose to examine whether the present lack of distinction is fair and make any recommendations it feels are appropriate. 
Lastly I have had the matter of excessive vehicle noise raised with me by Larry Baldock. Should the select committee examining this bill consider it appropriate it may wish to examine whether the current offence regime for dealing with excessive vehicle noise including stereo noise is acting as a sufficient deterrent. If not the committee may wish to examine what penalties would be suitable for such offences particularly repeat offences. Although the bill does not address that issue directly it has now been just over a year since the House passed provisions to deal with boy racers and it may be time to examine whether future measures to deal with the related issue of excessive noise are needed. 
In conclusion I would like to acknowledge the support from the Greens United Future and New Zealand First for the bill as introduced. The bill proposes a large number of positive changes to the legislative framework underpinning land transport safety. It will improve safety and help save lives. It will also reduce unnecessary complication and business compliance costs. I commend it to the House.