Some key milestones in New Zealand’s road safety history.
| Date | Milestones |
|---|---|
| 1908 | The first known fatal crash occurs in Christchurch on 22 February. A car swerves to avoid hitting a horse. It misses the horse but hits a tram and a passenger thrown from the car dies in hospital a week later. Speed was considered a factor – the car was thought to be travelling 30mph (48km/h). |
| 1929 | The first official roll toll is announced – 69 deaths. Before the official count began, road deaths were reported through radio and newspaper reports. From 1908 to 1929 there were an estimated 300 road deaths. |
| 1930 | A National Road Safety Conference looks at ways of reducing the rising road toll (which had more than doubled from 108 in 1925 to 246 in 1930). |
| 1936 | The National Road Safety Council is established. |
| 1936 | Drunk drivers have to undergo severe tests, including reciting the alphabet backwards, walking a straight line and working out a tax payment problem. |
| 1944 | The first official school patrols are introduced. |
| 1954 | The first issue of Road safety magazine is published. |
| 1961 | Representatives from New Zealand attend the International Road Safety Congress at Nice, France. |
| 1961 | The Department of Transport launches its first television road safety campaign. |
| 1967 | The American-based Defensive Driving Course is introduced to New Zealand. |
| 1977 | Plunket and the Ministry of Transport launch a video – ‘Fragile, handle with care,’ to boost the use of child restraints. |
| 1978 | The Road code for cyclists is launched. |
| 1995 | In June, a ‘shock horror‘ television advertising campaign airs, showing 'raw and uncensored images of the crashes on our roads.' |
| 1996 | Street sense, a CD Rom aimed at reducing the numbers of children being killed and injured on New Zealand roads, is released in six languages. |
| 1996 | The year’s health stamp issue features children crossing the road safely and in child restraints. |
| 1996 | New TV advertisements use the slogan ‘If you drink and drive, you’re a bloody idiot,’ and introduce a new slogan ‘Country people die on country roads.’ |
| 1997 | Land Transport Safety Authority issued its first booklet on car safety – Choosing a safer car. It set out the differences between active and passive safety and explained how air bags, crumple zones and safety belts help people survive in crashes. |
| 1997 | A new hard-hitting TV advertisement launched on 16 November, showing a woman passenger killed in a crash, introduces the slogan ‘the faster you go – the bigger the mess’. |
| 1998 | ‘Rumble strips’, a measure to combat driver fatigue, are trialled over a 5km stretch of road between Grenada and Tawa on SH1 north of Wellington. |
| 1998 | CAS (Crash Analysis System) is launched. As well as holding information on crashes, CAS maps the location of crashes. |
| 1998 | Businesses are approached to develop a safe driving policy with a booklet outlining how safe driving could save them money, and what management’s responsibilities were. |
| 2003 | Road safety to 2010 is published. |
