Transport Minister Simeon Brown believes it's important to get the "balance right" between maintaining an efficient transport network and prioritising safety following 21 confirmed road deaths over the summer holiday period.
Speaking to Breakfast about the road toll, the Transport Minister said he has a particular focus on targeting drugs and alcohol which remains "one of the highest causes of deaths and serious injuries on our roads".
"Every death on our road is tragic and I think it's a tragic number of deaths on our roads over the summer break. So safety is going to continue to be a very top priority for this Government," he said.
Brown referred to police reports of deaths on the road caused by fatigue, impairment with alcohol or drugs, not wearing seatbelts, exceeding the speed limit, being distracted by cellphones or devices and sometimes drifting onto the wrong side of the road or rolling.
"If you think about those deaths over the summer, [in] 11 of them, alcohol or drugs was a factor contributing to those incidents," he said.
He said the Government would not be taking a "blanket approach" to speed restrictions across highways and suburban areas as this would have a huge impact on productivity and efficiency of the network.
"Get the balance right between having an efficient, productive transport network while also targeting those areas where we know there is a significant safety improvement, if we can, around drugs and alcohol," he said.
"You can reduce the speed limit, if people aren't following it then the reality is we aren't going to get that change," he said.
Brown said the government is currently working through a "range of options" in the Government Policy Statement on land transport including "safe, new infrastructure".
Brown was also questioned about the rise in public transport fares as earlier this month AT confirmed fares would increase by a weighted average of 6.2% to "help cover additional expenses".
Breakfast host Daniel Faitaua questioned Brown whether he understood the implications for public transport users, asking when the minister last used public transport.
Brown responded: "I'm not a big public transport user myself.
"Fares obviously make a difference. The council have had to put out a proposal around how to fund their share of the transport costs, government pays its share, council has to fund it's share as well," Brown said.
"The reality is they also have to look at efficiencies within their own operations and I encourage councils to be doing that as well."
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