Even a small reduction in the number of trips taken by car can lead to a significant decrease in the number of deaths and injuries on our roads. But we can’t rely on individuals to drive less in a social and physical environment that doesn’t support it, says Holly Walker. At the time of writing, … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Changes coming at NZTA over road safety failures, half a billion to be paid out to health workers, and Blue Belt proposal revived in Wellington. An independent report into the NZTA has concluded that it failed in its duty to keep people safe on New … Read more
Sixty years ago Volvo invented the modern seatbelt then gave it away free to the world. Now, to celebrate that anniversary, they’re doing it again – this time with millions of dollars of hard-won safety research. In a steel tunnel in Sweden, a giant rubber moose is in trouble. Watched from every angle by high-speed … Read more
Authorities are failing to probe the root causes of truck accidents despite a rise in crash fatalities, writes business editor Maria Slade. Police did not have the authority to investigate possible health and safety causes of commercial truck crashes for two-and-a-half years thanks to a hole in the regulations. From April 2016 to October 2018, … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Union to take legal action against Novopay, building site sediment damaging waterways, and the govt’s road safety strategy explained. Teachers are taking legal action against Novopay, amidst the news their payrise won’t come in for another two months, reports Newshub. The one-off $1500 bonus promised to teachers … Read more
We keep hearing that Kids These Days are mollycoddled and risk-averse, but is that really true? And guess who gets blamed when kids do take risks and things go wrong? This generation aye? They don’t let their kids climb trees and they can’t play bullrush. No lolly scrambles either! In my day I used to … Read more
Women walk more, drive less, cycle less and use public transport more than men, on average – so why aren’t we designing urban spaces with that in mind, asks former Wellington mayor Celia Wade-Brown. We love to skite about New Zealand women getting the vote first without looking closely at the numbers that followed. We’ve … Read more
The bike-hating sticker owner underscores just what a nightmare it is to try to get around Auckland on a bicycle, writes Amanda Chapman I first saw that awful sticker while stuck at a traffic light. It contained an iconised bike enclosed within a circular no symbol. Next to it, in all caps: GET OFF THE … Read more
As Auckland examines how to make its roads safer and more functional, one city has already shown us how it’s done. Teuila Fuatai looks at how slowing down changes the way a city works. On the other side of the world, one Swedish city’s dedication to driving down road deaths and serious injuries (DSI) has … Read more
Felix Marwick recalls near misses, close calls, sweary moments and other daily adventures in cycling in Wellington. It’s entirely possible there’s no worse city for safe and easy biking in New Zealand than Wellington. The roads are narrow, the hills are steep, and the local drivers just seem to have this habit of absolutely, positively, … Read more
The common belief that overseas visitors drive more dangerously than locals is not borne out by crash data, reports Ben Strang for Radio NZ. New Zealand drivers are crashing at higher rates than drivers visiting this country, Ministry of Transport data shows. While exact information about the number of foreign drivers on New Zealand roads … Read more
Drivers peeing into a bottle because they can’t afford toilet stops and migrant workers sleeping in depots: The trucking industry is in a race to the bottom, a new study says. It took AUT researcher Dr Clare Tedestedt George several days to recover from her 15-hour interview with a truck driver. The conversation lasted that … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, Hayden Donnell reviews all New Zealand roads after driving 2500km in four days. The route over Takaka Hill is less a road than a rickety goat track hewn into the side of a mountain. It’s afflicted by slips and … Read more