The public service union says proposed staff cuts at the New Zealand Transport Agency will impact the team providing critical data to the analysis of vehicle crashes.
It says the Government spending cuts will impact the team managing the crash analysis system with a proposal to reduce 12 full time positions to five after NZTA was forced to cut 7.5% from its spending.
“It doesn’t make sense to downgrade this important area of activity at a time when too many people are still losing their lives on our roads,” Public Service Association assistant secretary Fleur Fitzsimons says.
“The Government promised evidence-based policy. This team is doing exactly that, providing the hard evidence on how to prevent more lives being lost.
“The Government is obsessed with building more highways and allowing higher speeds so you would have thought investing more in this important team would have been logical,” Fitzsimons says.
According to NZTA, the crash analysis system (CAS) is New Zealand’s primary tool for capturing information on where, when and how road crashes occur.
It says the information helps inform transport policy, design and prioritise road safety improvements and monitor their effectiveness.
“CAS enables the transport sector over the long term, to improve road safety,” it says.
NZTA is proposing to scale back the collection and processing of crash data, including data on non-injury crashes.
