AA Calls for Zero Tolerance on Road Trauma Epidemic
To mark the World Health Organisation’s World Health Day, which this year focuses on road safety, the New Zealand
Automobile Association has called on Government to show the same tolerance for road trauma that it shows for other
infrastructure sourced epidemics such as Cholera: i.e none at all.
“Road trauma is a disease which costs this country over three billion dollars a year. “ AA Public Affairs Director
George Fairbairn said.
“The benefits from fixing unsafe roads average around 24 times greater than the cost of doing nothing. Motorists are
already contributing $670 million a year from petrol taxes to non-roading revenue which could save lives if spent on
safer roads.” Mr Fairbairn said.
“Put simply, because we are not spending enough on preventing people from being hurt or killed in the first place, we
have to spend more than necessary on medical and other treatment costs after the accident.” he said.
Mr Fairbairn said the AA certainly acknowledged that drivers, in particular, had an important role to play in preventing
crashes but once a mistake had been made the only way to prevent a crash from becoming lethal was to ensure the roadway
itself was more forgiving.
“For example we may blame the driver for failing to prevent a crash into a power pole, but was it really necessary to
put a power pole where people might crash into it and kill themselves?” Mr Fairbairn asked.
Mr Fairbairn drew a parallel with Cholera epidemics in London and other Western cities during the 19th Century.
“In those days people simply accepted Cholera as a disease which occurred in large cities. It was only when they
realised that by ensuring the water supply was safe that Cholera was eradicated in first world nations.
We have to realise that road trauma does not naturally accompany motorised mobility and that we all can do something
about it” he said.