Young JonathanJONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth): Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak in this Committee stage of the Land Transport Amendment Bill (No 2). As we look at Part 1 Subpart 1 this evening looking at mandatory alcohol interlocks this is an incredibly important part—perhaps one of the most important parts—of this bill because this has the power to reduce recidivist drink-driving by at least 60 percent of those who have been convicted in the past of this offence. But in the past only 2 percent of those who could have received the sentence had received the sentence so making this mandatory is very very important if we want to see the road toll come down and see a greater change of behaviour from those people who have been involved in this continual issue and problem around drink-driving and also the high intoxication of some drivers.This is going to contribute significantly to the reduction in vehicle crashes in New Zealand. Drink-driving causes on average 77 road deaths a year—that is a very significant number of people—436 serious injuries and 1252 minor injuries. We are talking substantial figures and numbers so this part of the bill brings forward some very significant changes to the regime that are important for New Zealanders' road safety.Once an offender has received the mandatory alcohol interlock sentence they need to apply to the New Zealand Transport Agency for an alcohol interlock licence. In fact one speaker earlier on in the debate this evening said he would like to have this as mandatory across all young drivers. Well we know that the cost is quite significant: around $2400 to $2800 for the installation of these devices. Indeed they are very effective. You have to blow into them before you can start your vehicle. Then there are periodic intervals when you are driving your vehicle—because I wondered this question myself: could it be that somebody who continues to have the habit of driving under the influence of alcohol just gets a friend to blow into the interlock to enable that car to get started? But the technology is that at periodic intervals during the journey you will have to blow into the interlock and so the current driver i.e. the person who has that device who has that licence will be required to do this if their journey is going to continue.I think that is marvellous technology and it is expensive technology: $2400 to $2800. We understand that this may cause numbers of people not to be able to afford to do this and so the Government is putting in place a fund of $4 million to enable this mandatory sentencing to take place so that we do see these alcohol interlock devices installed and see the change of behaviour that is intended to happen. The big winners are those people who have those sentences because it will require that they comply with the law. That is a good thing so we do not see that recidivist breaking of the law. Secondly it is a great thing for the road users of New Zealand to see these situations where you do not see recidivist driving as much because as I said earlier in my remarks it brings a 60 percent reduction in recidivist behaviour in terms of driving under the influence of alcohol.So as we just look at Subpart 1 of this first part of the bill there is a tremendous emphasis on this aspect of the amendment bill. I think this is a great step forward. It is really important to see these sorts of provisions that will save lives save serious injuries and save the number of minor injuries happening to New Zealanders on our roads and in our places of driving activity. I am very pleased to see this portion and happy to make a contribution later on as we come to other parts of this bill. Thank you.