3 May 2001 attention transport reporter
Green traffic reduction bill to go before Parliament
Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons today had her Road Traffic Reduction Bill drawn from the private members
ballot.
The bill requires national and regional governments to set binding targets for the reduction of motorised road traffic
and also amends the principal objective of Transfund from simply building roads to instead providing a safe and
sustainable land transport system.
"I am delighted that this bill has been drawn because New Zealand cannot simply go on using more cars and building more
and more roads," said Ms Fitzsimons. "We have to turn this unsustainable trend around.
"The transport sector is New Zealand's largest single producer of climate-changing CO2 emissions and we have one of the
highest rates of child pedestrian injuries and child pedestrian deaths in the OECD. Research shows the only effective
way of dealing with this problem is slowing down and reducing traffic," she said.
"New Zealand's three main cities all have air pollution problems as a result of motor vehicle use and communites are
often threatened by massive roading projects which are justified on the basis that they save motorists a few seconds."
Ms Fitzsimons said this bill was an attempt to break the cycle of more roads equalling more cars equalling more
congestion and accidents.
"This bill is about getting a transport system that works for everyone. It recognises that what might work for an
individual can wreck havoc with a city."
Ms Fitzsimons said her bill would require the Minister of Transport to develop targets, timetables and measures for
traffic reduction on state highways and require councils to reduce traffic in their regions.
"Congestion and urban sprawl are both growing very fast in New Zealand and both of these phenomena impose huge economic
costs, divide communites and break down essential human interactions.
"New Zealand urgently needs to shift towards a model of access and mobility based around localisation, with increased
public transport services, cycling and walking and greater use of rail and coastal shipping for freight movement," said
Ms Fitzsimons.
"This is the first attempt by a New Zealand parliament to reduce the traffic on our roads."
ENDS