The 2006 state highway user survey reports the opinions, preferences and priorities of a random national sample of 1500 road users, and 325 truck drivers. Topics include road design, features and maintenance; environmental and social issues; communication and consultation; opinions on tolling, safety, congestion; and project completion and construction. For a full list of variables/options reported on or available for analysis, please refer to the questionnaire in the report.
Transit has released the results of its 2006 survey of road users. Since 1998 Transit has commissioned independent research at 2-3 year intervals to obtain ratings from road users of state highways and their management.
As in the past, the state highway system is well rated overall. State highways are rated positively by over 7 out of 10 road users, a similar result to the previous 3 surveys although slightly less positive, at 73%. The highest rating was 80% satisfaction in 1998. In 2006, nearly 6 out of 10 road users rated state highways 'better than 2 years ago - also a similar result to the previous rating in 2003. Only 12% of road users rated state highways as 'worse' than 2 years ago, and over 50% of those respondents nevertheless rated themselves as satisfied overall. In total the percentage of road users who rated state highways as 'better' or gave a favourable rating overall was 85%, up 2% from 2003.
Specific features of state highways and their management were also rated in the survey. The positive rating of state highways overall was bettered or equalled by the ratings for road markings, road signs, management of environmental impacts and the appearance of state highways in the landscape. Only in 2 out of 12 areas were less than a majority of road users satisfied. One of these was 'reducing congestion and improving traffic flows' - which also rated the top priority for expenditure by respondents in the Auckland region. Elsewhere in New Zealand this was the second priority for expenditure, behind improving safety. 'Construction and completion of state highway projects' had the second lowest satisfaction rating. Over a third of the comments, made by respondents rating this aspect as 'poor', suggest that road users mainly want projects completed faster.
The survey reports road user perceptions on a range of topics and by region, frequency of road use, and type of road user. Opinions on tolling, for example, were evenly divided - support and opposition levels were even at 4 out of 10 state highway users (with 1 out of 5 having no opinion). There was little variation to these levels by demographics eg age group, but there was variation by other factors - Wellington region, for example, was more supportive (57% support, 30% opposition) than Auckland region (37% support, 48% opposition).
Truck driver ratings and comments are reported separately in the survey. As a result of research findings in previous surveys, Transit initiated a programme of innovative measurement of 'truck ride', and specific initiatives to address the problem areas on state highways. Despite these actions, "the quality of surface and smoothness of state highways" gained a satisfaction rating of only 37% from truck drivers in 2006, compared with 57% from general road users. This is a challenge for Transit, because regular measurements of the state highway road condition (including the percentage of the network classified as smooth) deliver excellent results in the 95-100% range.
Perceptions of road surface quality have a very high correlation with overall satisfaction with state highways, and Transit will re-invigorate initiatives to address the perceptions held by both truck drivers and general road users. Other actions to be taken by Transit as a result of this survey will focus on Transit's initiatives for congestion relief in Auckland, and on the construction and completion of state highway projects. Communicating safety initiatives, in combination with safe driving behaviour messages, will also be important because safety remains one of road users' top two priorities nationwide, and correlates strongly with overall satisfaction. While state highway safety design and features was rated more positively in this survey than in 2003, over half of survey respondents had felt unsafe in the last 7 days due to another driver - "other drivers" being a more significant concern than the safety of the design or features of the road itself. This reinforces Transit's established commitment to "education", in conjunction with other road safety partners - ie to help drivers on state highways to use the network safely.
