2004 Survey of Public Attitudes to Road Safety
What do NZers really think about drink-driving, speeding, police enforcement and the state of their roads? The answers, including regional results, are to be found in the 2004 survey of public attitudes to road safety, released recently by the Land Transport Safety Authority (LTSA). The 2004 survey is the latest in a series that began in 1974, and that have been conducted each year since 1994.
As in years past, the 2004 survey showed strong support for police enforcement, with 90 percent of respondents saying police effort into catching people breaking road safety laws should remain at current levels (50 percent) or be increased (40 percent). Just eight percent said there should be less police enforcement.
Speed and alcohol are widely acknowledged as major road safety problems. The once commonly-held attitude that speeding and drink-driving are not risky if the driver is careful has steadily lost currency over the years. In 1995, 24 percent said there wasn't much chance of a crash when speeding if the driver was careful, and 13 percent thought the same was true for drink-driving. In 2004 the proportion holding that view has fallen to 15 percent for speeding and seven percent for drink-driving.
Seventy-seven percent of those surveyed agreed that enforcing the speed limit helps to lower the road toll. Fifty-nine percent of respondents said they believe speed cameras are operated fairly, and 56 percent said they would support the use of hidden cameras, compared with 28 percent opposed and 16 percent neutral.
The 2004 public attitudes survey also shows a very high level of support for road safety advertising and publicity, with 92 percent saying it should be increased or remain at current levels, and just seven percent saying it should be decreased.
The survey also questions drivers about their perception of the design and standard of the roads they drive on. In the 2004 survey just 10 percent of NZers described the design and standard of the roads they normally use as "very safe", while 72 percent think their usual roads are "fairly safe" and 18 percent described them as "unsafe".
Other survey results show that 76 percent of NZers agree that compulsory breath testing helps to lower the road toll and 90 percent agree that automatic loss of licence is a fair penalty for driving 150km/h on the open road. Twenty percent of drivers admitted they had driven while "slightly intoxicated" during the past 12 months, 19 percent had received a speeding ticket, 96 percent said they always wore a seatbelt when driving on the open road, and 92 percent always buckled up when driving in town.
Full details of the survey can be found on the LTSA website at www.ltsa.govt.nz
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