Source: New Zealand Transport Agency
Safe Limits, a new road safety advertising campaign, aims to increase public awareness and understanding of how setting safe speed limits plays an important part in keeping everyone safe – no matter how they travel.
Under the Road to Zero strategy, Waka Kotahi and local authorities are progressing with setting safer speed limits to reduce the number of people being killed and seriously injured on roads in Aotearoa. The campaign aims to ensure people understand the reasoning behind the proposals for change.
“Speed continues to be a major safety issue on our roads, with 600 people per year being killed or seriously injured in speed-related crashes,” says Kane Patena, Director of Land Transport.
“While speed is often not the only factor contributing to a crash, it’s a crucial factor in determining the severity of every crash. It can be the difference between being seriously injured or killed in a crash, or walking away unharmed.”
Waka Kotahi is committed to Vision Zero, a vision for Aotearoa New Zealand where no one is killed or seriously injured on our roads. Vision Zero is based on the safe system approach, which recognises that people make mistakes and are vulnerable in a crash. A Safe System requires a mix of solutions that all combine to keep people safe, including safer roads and roadsides, safer vehicles, safer road use, and safer speeds.
“We want everyone who uses our roads to get to where they’re going safely. Mistakes are inevitable, but deaths and serious injuries from road crashes are not. To save lives and prevent serious injuries, we must set safer speed limits.
“We want to help New Zealanders understand why it’s important to ensure speed limits are safe, match the road, and how it’s used. When speeds are safe for the road environment, simple mistakes are much less likely to end in tragedy. The areas surrounding many of our busiest roads have changed significantly since speed limits were originally set. There has been significant growth and development, traffic volumes have increased dramatically, and we’re continuing to use different modes of transport. It’s important that we’re setting the right speed limits to keep everyone safe.”
Safe Limits launched on 29 November on television, radio, video-on-demand and on YouTube. It is also rolling out on digital and social channels.
View the video ad(external link)
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