Carr & Haslam director Chris Carr emailed DIESELtalk voicing his personal concern over comments made by Police in yesterday’s news story: “Nearly 75,000 heavy vehicles inspected in Police operation.”
Carr says the report on the recent Austrans operation is interesting, but is distorted in its relevance to New Zealand by the inclusion of Australian data.
“I fail to see the relevance of the Police linking the data from these two operations, unless their purpose is to disseminate misinformation,” says Carr. “That is not responsible policing.”
“It is almost mischievous of Jon White to include Australian data in his comment ‘these are worrying numbers’,” says Carr.
“We know that the conditions in the two countries are very different, and to try and link the two together creates headlines but no useful data.
“For example there are no NZ vehicle offences in the category ‘speed tampering devices’ as these are units fitted to road trains only in Australia, and there is no such NZ offence.
“I have my doubts about the relevance of the drug test data in NZ also, as the conditions leading to drug usage in Australia are very different to NZ.
“On this basis, the credibility of all of the claims must be at risk as this statement was lifted from Australian records,” he says.
Carr says what would be more relevant is comparisons on the NZ data year-on-year.
He also says that statements such as “Although heavy vehicles make up only a small percentage of the total vehicle fleet on Australian and New Zealand roads, they are over-represented in road crashes which often involve serious injury and death,” do not take into account the cause of the incident.
“I am not denying physics, and if there is an incident between a car and a truck, it generally doesn’t go so well for the car. However the majority of car/truck accidents are caused by the car driver,” says Carr.
“Our NZ figures show that the accident and death rates are reducing significantly, and has been for many years. There is room for optimism, not sensationalism.” he concludes.
The full letter:
Dear (DieselTalk),
Your report on the Austrans is interesting, but is distorted in its relevance to NZ by the inclusion of Australian data.It is almost mischievous of Jon White to include Australian data in his comment “these are worrying numbers”.
We know that the conditions in the two countries are very different, and to try and link the two together creates headlines but no useful data.
For example there are no NZ vehicle offences in the category “speed tampering devices” as these are units fitted to road trains only in Australia, and there is no NZ offence.
I have my doubts about the relevance of the drug test data in NZ also as the conditions leading to drug usage in Australia are very different to NZ.
On this basis the credibility of all of the claims must be at risk as this statement was lifted from Australian records.
What would be relevant is comparisons on the NZ data year on year.
Statements like “Although heavy vehicles make up only a small percentage of the total vehicle fleet on Australian and New Zealand roads, they are over-represented in road crashes which often involve serious injury and death” do not take into account the cause of the incident.
I am not denying physics, and if there is an incident between a car and a truck, it generally doesn’t go so well for the car. However the majority of car/truck accidents are caused by the car driver.
Our NZ figures show that the accident and death rates are reducing significantly, and has been for many years. There is room for optimism, not sensationalism.
I fail to see the relevance of the Police linking the data from these two operations, unless their purpose is to disseminate misinformation.
That is not responsible Policing.
(Anyway all of our unlicensed drivers are Maori from South Auckland, and therefore that part isn’t applicable either J)
regards,
Chris
Chris Carr
Carr & Haslam Limited
