The full evaluation report of the 2013-14 Safer Summer campaign is published on the Police website today.
The evaluation found that the 2013-14 Safer Summer campaign was associated with:
¡¤ a significant 36% decrease in exceeding the speed limit by 1-10km/h
¡¤ a significant 45% decrease for speeding in excess of 10km/h.
In terms of road trauma, the evaluation showed that:
¡¤ fatal crashes decreased by 22%
¡¤ serious injury crashes decreased by 8%
¡¤ minor injury crashes decreased by 16%.
Due to the small numbers involved, the evaluation could not confirm the statistical significance of the crash decreases.
Assistant Commissioner Road Policing, Dave Cliff, today launched a new road safety campaign which commits Police to ensuring more people safely ¡®reach the beach¡¯ this summer.
¡°Like last summer¡¯s campaign, this is one of several initiatives by Police and the wider road safety sector to encourage safer driving on our roads over the long term,¡± he said. ¡°This evaluation supports a vast body of research showing that driving a few kilometres slower makes us all safer.¡±
He notes that the evaluation found drivers tended to revert to pre-intervention speeds once the campaign ended.
¡°We want to keep the statistics moving in the right direction ¨C not just over summer but every day of the year.¡±
Police is reminding people that anything over the limit is speeding, and that from 1 December lower alcohol limits for drivers aged 20 and over will be strictly enforced.
ENDS
Links:
2013/14 Safer Summer Evaluation:
Media release - Protecting lives on the roads this summer and beyond:
Note to editors
The 10km/h speed enforcement threshold has been reduced to 4km/h during official holiday periods in New Zealand since Queen¡¯s Birthday weekend 2010. The 2013/14 Safer Summer road safety campaign was the first time the speed enforcement threshold reduction had been extended beyond official holiday periods to a full two month period.
The campaign was carried out by Police from 1 December 2013 to 31 January 2014, and supported by the wider road safety sector. It involved a well-publicised reduced speed enforcement threshold, combined with intensified and highly visible speed enforcement.
The final report evaluates the effects of the campaign on speeding and crashes.