Greg Murphy: Road to Zero is laughable and doesn’t focus on the real issues

New Zealand road safety advocate Greg Murphy says Road to Zero is a ‘laughable’ campaign because it solely focuses on speed and not driver training.

As most people know, Road to Zero is a Government project targeting having zero road deaths by 2050.

Over ANZAC weekend, 11 people were killed on New Zealand roads, emphasising how much more needs to be done to achieve Road to Zero’s ambitions.

However, Murphy believes the Government is not centring their focus on the heart of the issue.

“The focus is on just speed. NZTA has tunnel vision on speed, and that is just not the key problem,” he said on Today FM.

“[There is a] lack of information, lack of education and a lack of training.”

Murphy criticised Road to Zero’s recent TV ad push, which merely explains the idea rather than takes action.

“[The ads are] not going to make any difference in how people are driving.

“No one cares. We just want action, we want change, we want things done to make people safer on roads.”

Instead of speed, Murphy believes distracted motorists are the biggest killers.

“Distraction is becoming such a monstrous killer on our roads because people cannot drive without using their mobile phones.

“It’s disgraceful that people think they are better and smarter than what they actually are when it comes to driving.

“People who hold their phones in their hand [while driving] have zero respect for themselves and, more importantly, for other people on the road.

“They don’t care.”

Earlier in the week, Assistant Police Commissioner Bruce O’Brien agreed a lot of work is needed to achieve Road to Zero’s targets.

However, he says the biggest responsibility lies with motorists, not the Police or Government.

“Ultimately, the responsibility sits with the driver, their passengers and other road users.”