Nicolas Gladstone

Matt Bullen (Letters, February 12) correctly says that New Zealand's worst year for road deaths was 1973; in the UK, the worst year was 1967, when 7985 people died.  By 2024, the UK figure had been reduced to 1607, a reduction of 78%.   New Zealand's record has been to reduce fatalities by 66% from 1973 to date, so there is still some scope for improvement.

This steady reduction in road deaths has been happening worldwide, and New Zealand currently has an annual road death rate of 54 per one million citizens. The Scandinavian countries are all around half that.  The European Union, the UK and Australia all have a lower rate than us.  So, there is no room for complacency, unless one feels that a certain level of fatalities is “acceptable”.

Statistically, we are mostly driving similar cars in all the countries mentioned, so it is highway design, regulation (of speed, drink-driving and the use of safety belts) plus driver education that makes the difference.  (All the data I have used here is easily found or derived from the Internet.)

In trying to keep my original letter to a reasonable length, I omitted to give any personal details.  I am a retired crash investigation and crash prevention roading engineer, with over 20 years’ experience in the UK and in New Zealand, working for both highway authorities and for consulting engineers.

My job was to analyse past crash data, then to design engineering solutions that targeted the particular problems identified, arrange for the work to be done, and then check later crash data (if any) to assess the benefits and value-for-money of the projects.  On occasion in the UK, I also attended coroner's courts and was an expert witness in several court cases, and I also gave talks on aspects of the work to secondary school children.

In New Zealand, my role included attending fatal crashes in my contract area, often arriving about the same time as the emergency services.  I then collected as much information as possible to try and build a picture of what had happened while the vehicles involved were still where they came to rest, often with their unfortunate occupants still inside.  This was to enable me to prepare an account of what had happened within 48 hours for the roading authority. The Police Serious Crash Unit then usually did a more detailed study, to provide evidence in the event of any prosecution.

I respect Mr Bullen’s 38 years’ experience as an auto technician, if he will grant that I know a bit about road safety, including the role of excessive speed in serious and fatal crashes.

I say again the points I made before - there will be no fewer crashes after the speed limits are raised, but there will be a tendency for them to be more serious and costly.  As for the benefits to the economy of any slight reduction in journey times - I doubt it will be measurable.