The Government is working on a new road safety strategy, using the much talked about Vision Zero approach, to guide New Zealand’s transport system into the next decade.
On the cusp of the 2020s, automation and new technologies are built into every area of our lives – and vehicles are no exception.
Automotive technologies, like cruise control and lane centring, and aftermarket technologies, such as dashcams and alcohol interlocks, must be better integrated into road safety strategies.
Today’s auto-tech, if used or restricted correctly, can greatly impact the risk of serious injury and death on New Zealand’s roads.
Scale of autonomy Former V8 supercar driver Greg Murphy is righ; New Zealanders need to improve their driving skills.
Today’s such as cruise control, blind spot monitors, even trafficsign recognition, are contributing to diminishing skill levels.
This is because they semiautomate the task of driving, while the driver is left in a state of false pretence that they are in total control.
With reduced control but still an excellent outcome, drivers habitually learn to rely on the car to provide the skills that drivers used to cultivate.
In 2013, the US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration adopted a system of measuring driver autonomy ranging from complete driver control at level 0 to full autonomy at level 5.
Many vehicles in New Zealand are now reaching level 2, where at least one driver assistance system is automated like cruise control or lane guidance.
At this level, the driver must still always have their hands on the wheel to be at the ready.
However, the danger at this level is that people are disengaging from the physical task of driving, thus reducing the application of driver skill and experience.
A large percentage of newly manufactured vehicles are automatics with limited manual options where the
driver would have to think about their environment, such as approaching a hill, and react with the appropriate changes to tackle the new environment.
With automatic, however, these in-themoment analysis skills are no longer needed – it’s simply
automated.
Even while vehicles have yet to reach full autonomy at level 5, there is an increasing risk that drivers lose the skills to judge speed and distance, manage acceleration and deceleration, correct lane position and spot, assess and adapt to changing road conditions and other vehicles.
A road safety strategy, whether it is the Government’s or a business’s, must recognise the level of autonomy within the fleet and continue to engage drivers to practice and hone their skills.
Simulator systems Regular mistakes that drivers make are in how they behave in relation to other road users – cars, cyclists, heavy vehicles, motorbikes, buses and so on.
While trucks are over-represented in crash statistics, a large part of the problem is drivers of other vehicles.
A technology as simple and appealing as a driving simulator could help to increase driver education.
A welloiled machine can simulate 44-tonne semi-trailers.
Simulators could be introduced into the public arena to and other large vehicles, such as blind spots and stopping distances.
Paired with as NZ Trucking Association’s road safety truck, this vehiclespecific education will help improve understanding of and reduce incidents between different transport modes.
Alcohol interlocks. There are regular news reports of repeat drink driving offenders causing fatal crashes.
In March, it was reported that 12 individual serial offenders have racked up a whopping 249 convictions between them – and that’s just the number of times they were caught.
Alcohol interlocks are used in New Zealand for repeat drink driving offenders.
An alcohol interlock is a breathalyser that is wired into the ignition of your vehicle where the driver must pass a breath test before the vehicle is able to start.
The aftermarket technology is common, however, a USbased research programme is developing breathalyser andtouchscreen solutions which can be built into the vehicle during its manufacture.
New Zealand’s Ministry of Transport data shows that alcohol or drugs were a contributing factor in 32% of fatal crashes and 15% of serious injury crashes between 2015- 2017, which means it’s time to consider using alcohol interlocks more frequently and targeting at risk drivers.
An example would be immediately applying alcohol interlocks to every driver who exceeds the 250 micrograms breath alcohol limit at police stops.
Perhaps that’s heavy handed, but it would be a strong and embarrassing deterrent for drink drivers.
GPS-based fleet management solutions Another technology that could be used in reducing harm, for young drivers especially, is GPS-based fleet management devices and software solutions.
A scaleddown version of a commercial fleet product could be applied to drivers on their restricted licences.
This version would not include location data, but purely record driver behaviour indicators such as speeding, harsh acceleration, braking and cornering.
For a restricted driver to move on to a full licence, they must present a good driver behaviour record.
These technologies are not futuristic and have been available for years.
Drivers do make mistakes, but many of these are born from dangerous habits that could easily be identified and stopped with the right technology.
