Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter said road safety was her top priority after the road toll reached 329 at the weekend - one more than all of last year and the highest since 2010. She will meet officials from the Ministry of Transport and the NZ Transport Agency to discuss short-term and long-term options, such as funding for councils to target black spots that have been neglected because of a lack of money. She said billions of dollars went into seven motorways, and some of it could be re-prioritised to fund, for example, low-cost median barriers in black spots around the country. Sweden has had a zero target road toll strategy for the past 20 years. She said one reason the road toll was higher was that people were driving more and the average age of a vehicle had risen to 14 years.

Source: Otago Daily Times November 19, 2017 22:18 UTC