Vehicle safety linked to some road deaths
MTA urges the Government to look at vehicle safety as it tries to combat the growing road toll.
“A safe, well-maintained car will react better to a dangerous situation regardless of who is at fault,” says MTA Chief
Executive Craig Pomare.
In 2016 vehicle-related factors contributed to around nine percent of deaths on New Zealand. Common sense and personal
experience tells us that if your tyres have good tread depth and your brakes are working properly, you have a much
better chance of avoiding an accident, he said.
“As we head into the summer holidays, with more people on the road, MTA urges everyone to book their car in with an MTA
Assured member for a safety check. An MTA member will check your tyres, brakes, lights, wipers and indicators and make
sure your oils and other fluids are in top condition.”
New Zealand has a lot of older cars on the road, and unless they are well maintained, they pose more safety risks that
newer cars. “All owners should do a safety check of their cars in between warrants. For owners of new cars, this is also
vitally important as a warrant is not needed within the first three years. During that time, if you do a lot of driving,
tyres can wear down below the minimum of one and a half millimetres of tread.”