Good morning,

I hope this email finds you well and that you and your teams are looking forward to a well-deserved break over the Christmas Period.

It has been another hectic year for all those involved in the commercial transport industry and I know that a number of you will be working through to keep the supply chain running for the rest of New Zealand.

NZ Police are working through as well with a concentrated effort starting next week on trying to keep the death and serious injury crashes that are occurring on our roads to a minimum over the summer period.  As I write this email there has been 355 persons killed on our roads this year.   For every person killed a further 7 persons are seriously injured resulting in life changing circumstances for them and their family.

Speed is the major determining factor in the outcome of any crash.  We have all heard the saying that the greater the speed the bigger the mess.  A decrease of 1km/hr in the mean speed across the network results in a 5% decrease in the number of fatalities and serious injuries that occur.  Your people travel the network just like I do and we are fully aware that a majority of people are not abiding by the rules, some of them may be your people.  Excess speed on the network combined with the fact that the speed limit set on 86% of our roads is at a speed to high for the engineering and use of that road is a major contributing factor to the horrific result that has been achieved on our roads so far this year.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Team along with other Road Policing groups will next week be working on the network deploying with a concentrated effort on enforcement regarding RIDS:

  • Restraints
  • Impairment
  • Distraction
  • Speed

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Team will be spending 50% of their deployment activity in this space for all road users.  While we have had a reduction in the number of HMV’s involved in fatalities this year as well as a reduction in the number of HMV’s seen to be at fault we can still do better in this space.

While CVST has a responsibility to concentrate on industry we also need to ensure your team are safe from other road users that do not follow the rules. However, enforcement activity will also be occurring with those HMV drivers whom are not following the rules.

So, in the interest of transparency my team will be completing the following enforcement activity in relation to the Commercial Industry:

  1. Speed:  Due to the lack of opportunity on the network to complete speed enforcement activity and stop the driver in a safe place, especially on the open road, I have authorised the use of Laser Speed Detection Devices to identify speeding HMV drivers.  Information on the vehicle, location and breach will be recorded at the time and a Section 118 letter under the Land Transport Act 1998 will be forwarded to the registered owner for identification of the driver for enforcement action to be taken by way of infringement.  These infringements carry demerit points. Failure to supply the information carries a fine of up to $10,000. Please see attached links to the relevant legislation and penalties.

https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1998/0110/latest/DLM435112.html

https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1998/0110/latest/DLM434682.html

  1. Spotting Operations will also be conducted to identify seat belt usage and also distraction and cell phone use. These operations will  be conducted in an environment where there is an opportunity to stop and speak to the driver.
  1. All drivers stopped and spoken to will be breath tested.

My concern is that if you have drivers in your team that have developed a culture of speeding on the network or behaviours that put themselves and others at risk there is a likelihood that they will not be aware that their offending has been detected until multiple offences have been incurred.  The end result that demerit point accumulation will have an impact and possible suspension of their driver’s license.

Please share this information with your teams and others in industry so that those that are tempted to bend the rules have the opportunity to modify their behaviour so this does not occur.

Remember if they are compliant then they have nothing to worry about.

Have a safe Christmas.

Regards

Mike

Inspector Mike Brooklands

National Manager: Commercial Vehicle Safety Team.

National Road Policing Centre | New Zealand Police