Land Transport (Road Safety and Other Matters) Amendment Bill

I move, That the Land Transport (Road Safety and Other Matters) Amendment Bill be now read a second time. I would like to thank members of the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee for their work on this bill. This bill will make important changes to improve New Zealand’s road safety by targeting two key groups that are overrepresented in our road toll—young drivers and high-risk drivers. It makes changes to the requirements for young drivers. The bill as introduced proposed to raise the minimum driving age for obtaining a driver’s licence from 15 to 16 years; to introduce a zero blood-alcohol concentration for all drivers aged under 20; and to allow the restricted licence test to be tougher. These are crucially important steps as New Zealand has a 60 percent worse fatality rate amongst young drivers than Australia does and these changes will help address that sad reality.

Recently released statistics have shown that 72 percent of alcohol-related crashes resulting in death were caused by high-risk drivers—people with a previous drink-drive conviction, or first-time offenders with an alcohol reading at least 50 percent higher than the legal blood-alcohol limit. To crack down on these problem drivers the bill as introduced proposed an alcohol interlock programme to be introduced, a zero blood-alcohol concentration licence for repeat offenders, doubling the prison sentence from 5 years to 10 years for dangerous driving offences causing death, and allowing the renewal of a 28-day licence suspension for up to three consecutive occasions while police investigate charges. As well as improving road safety, this bill will also improve the efficiency of our land transport legislation by removing duplicated legislation and streamlining the rule-making process.

This bill was referred to the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee in September 2010. The committee received 85 submissions and although there have been no substantive changes to any proposals, a number of changes have been suggested by the committee that will improve the effectiveness of current provisions. I believe that the bill is better for these changes. Definitions have been clarified, such as the definition of “cumulative work day”. This will assist police, and heavy vehicle drivers and their employers, in ensuring compliance with work-time and rest-time obligations. There has been a change to proposals for the regime for collecting blood specimens from suspected drink-drivers. The bill proposes allowing changes to requirements to account for more modern and safer methods, such as Vacutainers as an alternative to syringes. The bill as introduced would have allowed the blood specimen collecting procedure to be set out by the Minister of Police through a Gazette notice. Submitters on the bill were concerned that this would remove the current requirement to provide a blood specimen for independent analysis. The right to an independent analysis of a blood specimen by a private analyst remains unchanged.

The committee also recommended changes to alcohol interlock provisions. These changes will make it explicit that a person subject to an interlock is also subject to a zero breath-alcohol level; clarify that a driver subject to indefinite qualification can, at the court’s discretion, be sentenced to an alcohol interlock as an alternative sentence; and allow the New Zealand Transport Agency to authorise the removal of interlocks from a vehicle. This will ease administration but not allow the agency to remove a court order.

The police have had difficultly obtaining suitable evidence to enforce current chain of responsibility provisions. The bill as introduced proposed extending the police’s powers to obtain a search warrant for these offences. The select committee, after considering submissions, has recommended that the process for obtaining a search warrant for those offences be the same as for all other offences. This will assist police and send an important message to all people in the supply chain about their responsibilities. The committee has recommended enhancements to the New Zealand Transport Agency’s powers, to allow it to immediately suspend the licences of taxi drivers and other professional drivers who carry passengers where there is a serious allegation against them. Currently, a New Zealand Transport Agency licence suspension can take effect only 28 days after it is served. This delay could put passengers at risk. The change will improve passenger safety. The committee has also agreed with the Government on the need to gather New Zealand - specific evidence on the harm caused by drivers who have a blood-alcohol concentration of between 0.05 and 0.08 grams. All drivers who fall within this range who have been involved in a fatal or serious injury crash will have their details forwarded to the Secretary for Transport for analysis.

Finally, I would like to ask the House to consider, at the appropriate time, Supplementary Order Papers that will amend a number of technical points in this bill. These papers will correct a number of minor errors and omissions and reduce the administrative burden on the courts. These papers will also allow for the orderly implementation of various new requirements to be inserted into the Land Transport Act. Again, I thank the committee for its work on this bill. The bill will improve road safety by improving the safety of young drivers, and by allowing for the better management of high-risk drivers. It makes a number of other important changes to facilitate the smooth operation of existing transport law. This is a good bill and I commend it to the House.

Debate interrupted.