Transporting New Zealand is calling on political parties to commit to stronger enforcement targeting distracted driving, seatbelt offences and drug-impaired motorists.
The road freight association says road safety has received insufficient attention during the election campaign despite preventable behaviour continuing to contribute to deaths and serious injuries.
Its call follows the release of the AA Road Safety Review 2026, which draws together crash data and research from the past decade.
Transporting New Zealand policy and advocacy advisor Mark Stockdale says the falling road toll should not reduce the urgency for further action.
“While our road toll has been gradually falling, there is more our Government could be doing to improve road safety, like cracking down on handheld cellphone use and vehicle occupants not wearing seatbelts,” Stockdale says.
More than a quarter of road deaths last year involved people who were not wearing seatbelts, while about 5% of deaths and serious injuries are attributed to cellphone distraction.
Stockdale says cellphone-related incidents are likely to be under-reported, particularly given the behaviour observed by truck drivers from their higher seating positions.
The AA review reports that one in five drivers admits to looking at phone messages while driving during the previous month. Almost one in 10 admits to not wearing a seatbelt.
“Yet we have the technology to enforce this now,” Stockdale says.
“In other countries like Australia, the safety cameras are used to monitor seatbelt and cellphone use, in addition to speeding and red-light running.
“Our cameras have this ability too, but currently aren’t used to enforce these.”
Transporting New Zealand wants the safety-camera network expanded to detect illegal handheld cellphone use and seatbelt offences.
It is also calling for tougher penalties and increased enforcement against repeat cellphone and seatbelt offenders.
The third measure in its election platform is an increase in random roadside drug testing from 50,000 to 150,000 tests annually.
Stockdale says the planned number of roadside drug tests is small compared with the approximately four million breath-alcohol tests carried out by police each year.
“Yet drug-impaired driving is involved in more fatal crashes than alcohol-impaired driving,” he says.
“The enforcement effort needs to reflect the scale of the risk.”
Stockdale says increasing roadside drug tests to 150,000 annually would bring New Zealand closer to the testing levels seen in similarly sized Australian states.
