Radio NZ article.
Road deaths are disproportionately high even despite pandemic lockdowns, the AA says, with 319 people killed in crashes in 2021.
The figure is only one less than the road toll for 2020, and AA policy manager Simon Douglas said it signalled that New Zealand was not doing what it could to take decisive action on road safety.
Douglas said the 2020 and 2021 road tolls do show a “turn around” of fewer deaths compared to a previous upward trend to 2017 (380 deaths) from a low in 2013 (253). But while the upward trend to 2017 appeared to have been turned around, Douglas said global comparisons showed the country “could and should be doing better” in road safety.