Charismatic

Interest carrying a little more data but it still looks like no one is really sure why: http://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/90323/sam-warburton-welcomes-public-debate-over-road-toll-bemoans-it-has-taken-horrific

Justcol

Maybe the fact that half the population travel round on mass
packed like sardines, 7 or 8 strong into 20 year old shonky people carriers
when they crash its like an explosion in a spaghetti factory, especially as fewer people
seem to be wearing seat belts now

escapedtonz

So true.
Only this evening a subaru station wagon pulling out of the Mclaren Falls Park road had 3 kids in the boot staring at me out of the back window as I passed going over the Kaimai's. There must have been 8 of em in the car
....and a friend today watched dumbfounded as a mum drove out of Pac n Save in Tauranga with her seriously young baby on her knee....WTF!!!

BEVS

I'm not in Dubai so those drivers will be unable to maim or kill me.

BEVS

Wot , no dog(s) swaying around in the back . Seriously undercrowded.

Charismatic

People have been driving around in overcrowded people movers for year though, why would we expect to see a move upwards in crashes now?

Charismatic

Looks like other people are also wondering why there are more people crashing.

Stuck in Auckland

Bugger buying a sports car for my 40th

Gona get a tank with air everything

Perhaps with a sign "I eat Ford Rangers"

sr71

Is it really that bad? A cursory glance puts NZ at around 29th in the world on road deaths per capita. (6 per 100,000)

A dozen or so countries ranked better than NZ are just not comparable (Singapore, Monaco, Maldives, Kiribati etc)

Given the terrain and roads I'm not sure we'd ever get to the same levels as say the UK with it's better motorway network.

And the reality is people check phones, mess around with increasingly complex in-car systems, no doubt that is a factor. Yes mobile phones have been around since the 80's, but really only the last 5-10 years the use of applications has exploded and the phones are now used almost constantly

BEVS

Yes.

Clappy

I overheard two kiwi colleagues talking today about how bad the driving was here.

One of them mentioned that they hadn't noticed it when they were growing up here but once they moved back after living overseas for a while they found it shocking.

This is in Auckland where the terrain is not difficult and the roads are good.

jmh

I think Auckland is particularly bad. I was on Waiheke Island over the hols and we talked about the terrible Auckland drivers - even experienced it when my mum wasn't driving fast enough for some bozo and he honked his horn at her - we all called out 'bloody Auckland drivers'.

sr71

I don’t think Auckland is too bad, there are selfish idiots on the motorway but on the whole I find people let you in and are reasonably courteous.

The atrocious driving I have seen has been by Chinese drivers, both times I’ve had to take evasive action have been with them.

Charismatic

That might be true but drivers from developing countries are at a disadvantage because, for many, they will have been the first generation to have owned a car. They're not as far down the experience curve as we are as a society.

Also the quality of testing isn't very high and road policing very poor in many of these countries. Hence the road death statistics look appalling by our measures.

Stuck in Auckland

Well your risks go up when i hit the road.

Drivers lack of attention and lack of adequate control of vehicles increases my chances of writing off your vehicles.

I don't break for no indication in to my lane. Yes the nudge will roll you.

I do have exceptionally fast breaks for rear-actions. Tailgaters are paying my daughters college fund.