The stats are sobering. New Zealand has one of the highest rates of traffic crashes in the OECD. Thirteen percent of Auckland’s fatal and serious crashes are alcohol related. Now, we have a comprehensive picture of drink driving in the region.
Late last year, WSP was commissioned by Auckland Transport to research where and when in Auckland drink driving happens. To do this breath testing data from NZ Police was matched with road network data from the NZ Transport Agency and Auckland Transport.
Data from 2020/21 and 2021/22 was analysed to generate estimates of drink driving on high-volume and arterial roads, primary collector, secondary collector, regional, and access roads. These figures were averaged according to traffic volume on each road type relative to total traffic across Auckland. The analysis focused on peak alcohol consumption hours — weekends between 10pm and 2am.
Across all road types, the percentage of people driving over the limit increases into the wee small hours. Most drink driving in Auckland happens between 10pm and 2am.
Encouragingly, the study shows a small overall decrease in the number of drivers registering over the limit in Auckland between 2020/21 and 2021/22. In 2020/21, 3.8 percent of drivers tested in Auckland were over the 250 mcg/L breath alcohol limit. In 2021/22, the number was 3.4 percent. In 2020/21, 2.6 percent were over the 400 mcg/L limit in 2020/21, compared with 2.3 percent in 2021/22.
Roads with lower traffic volumes, which account for a much smaller percentage of vehicle kilometres travelled, tend to have higher offending levels. This may relate to people who are over the limit of 250mcg thinking there's less probability of being caught. But that's not necessarily so with many caught by police patrols.
Bill says he's not surprised by the study’s findings, and "nor are NZ Police, who are vigorously responding to the challenge with numbers of breath tests not seen in the last ten years".
A comprehensive picture of drink driving in the region is required as part of the NZ Transport Agency, Auckland Transport, and NZ Police’s Safe System approach to road safety. A Safe System approach aims to minimise the consequences of road user mistakes, including by making roadsides more forgiving, reducing impact speeds, deterring drink driving, and reducing the complexity of the road network to minimise the number of mistakes made.
Bill says to be successful we need to aim at impacting everyone. As part of an integrated, system wide approach to road safety, general deterrence, by Police Compulsory Breath Testing is a crucial component of alcohol enforcement, supplemented by specific deterrence i.e., Police patrols breath testing suspected drink drivers. This is what NZ Police are doing right now, anytime, anywhere.
"We know that deterrence works. Following the introduction of compulsory breath testing in the early 1990s, there was a 38 percent decrease in high alcohol driving hours in rural areas and a 35 percent decrease in urban areas.
"Studies like these mean we can better understand where and when on the road network drivers are drinking. They’re a valuable tool in the deterrence arsenal and should be done annually to reveal drink drive hotspots and long-term trends, not just in Auckland but elsewhere in the country too.
"The bottom line is that New Zealand needs to keep doing as many breath tests as resources will allow, as effectively as possible - backed up with support advertising on all the best public outreach channels including broadcast and social media to stop one of the leading causes of traffic death and serious injury."
