WELLINGTON, April 9 (Xinhua) -- No loss of life is acceptable is the message behind the development of the New Zealand government's new road safety strategy, Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter said on Monday.
The development of the new strategy was announced Monday at the Local Government Road Safety Summit in Wellington.
"As part of the development of a new road safety strategy, the government will investigate setting a target of zero road deaths," Genter said in a statement.
Although the target of zero death would be "audacious," but ambitious targets are needed to focus the resources of both central and local government to save lives on roads, Genter said.
"No other industry accepts hundreds of people dying each year as normal. No person I know thinks losing a loved one in a crash is an acceptable price to pay for living in a modern society," she said, adding that ambitious zero road death strategies have been successful in countries like Canada, Sweden, and Norway which have considerably lower fatality rates than New Zealand.
The development of a new road safety strategy will take until September 2019 and be ready for implementation in 2020. It will outline the steps New Zealand will take to meaningfully reduce deaths and serious injuries over the coming decade.
The government has proposed a significant boost in funding to improve local and regional roads right around the country, such as delivering safe walking and cycling infrastructure, median and side barriers, improving the safety of vehicles entering New Zealand, reducing speeds around schools, and will implement mandatory alcohol interlock device systems for repeat drunk drivers, Genter said.
New Zealand has seen rising fatalities for the last few years especially during the festive seasons.
