In 2013, 83 people were killed and 408 were seriously injured in speed-related crashes.
Most road users recognise the risks of driving at speed and support police enforcement of the speed limit. But these statistics show that drivers don't always practise this when driving: speed is still a contributing factor in 20% of all fatal and serious injury crashes on New Zealand roads.
This campaign targets competent drivers who regularly drive and put the 'Ks' in. These people drive 'comfortably' fast – typically a bit faster than the posted speed limit or other traffic. But they don't consider it to be wrong or anti-social because it's not really 'speeding' in their minds. They feel competent and in control of their vehicle.
Previous campaigns have shown that the faster you go the less time you have to react, the longer it takes to stop and the bigger the mess when you do stop. But people still deny this truth or think it doesn't apply to them. Their speed may be over the limit but it is minimal, eg 107km/h in a 100km/h area. In their minds they're not 'speeding', but driving comfortably, and they feel in control.
This campaign aims to reframe the way that people look at their speed when they're driving. A person may be a good driver but they can't deny that people do make mistakes – after all, to err is only human. And in life, mistakes are made often. We usually get to learn from our mistakes, but not when driving - the road is an exception. Even the smallest of mistakes on the road can cost us our life or someone else's.
In a safe system no one should pay for a mistake with their life. When we drive, we share the road with others, so the speed a person chooses to travel at needs to leave room for any potential error – whether it is theirs or someone else's. At speed, there is less opportunity for a driver to react to a mistake and recover, and this is the key message for this campaign.
The campaign launched on 5 January 2014.