The AA says the government's plan for more breath tests should make people think twice about drink-driving. Photo: 123 RF
The AA says the government's plan for more breath tests should make people think twice about drink-driving.
The government on Sunday revealed its three-year, $1.3 billion Road Policing Investment programme, including a target of 3.3 million alcohol breath tests a year.
Sixty-five percent of these will be done at high-alcohol-risk times.
AA chief policy and advocacy officer Simon Douglas told First Up the number of tests fell during Covid-19, with just 3 million breath tests carried out last year, causing the programme to lose a key part of its effectiveness in acting as a deterrent.
"We've seen deaths involving alcohol and drugs grow to almost half of those on the road. Alcohol in particular has grown from 2014 from 48 deaths to 124 deaths in 2022. So a focus on drug and drunk-impaired driving is absolutely the right thing to do."
AA on $1.3m funding to counter alcohol, drugs driving
Transport Minister Simeon Brown said in the past decade, there had been only two years in which police conducted at least 3 million tests - sometimes falling to less than half that figure.
"After Covid, for reasons that we can understand... alcohol tests fell to well under 2 million, and a key part of the effectiveness of alcohol tests is the deterrence effect," Douglas said.
"So if you know that you're likely to come across a checkpoint, you're much less likely to drink and drive. So when it fell under 2 million, the population just got a little bit lazy on the issue of alcohol and driving.
"We hit 3 million last year. A target of 3.3 million as the minister said, with a particular focus on times and places where they know drink-driving is occurring, and you get back to that point where the population of drivers knows you're gonna come across a policeman, you better not have been drinking."
An untested approach taken in the new funding scheme is that police will have funding withheld if they do not meet the target. Around 5 percent of the money - $73 million - will only be handed over from New Zealand Transport Agency / Waka Kotahi to police if they hit targets on track to do at least 3.3 million breath tests in a year.
"That's a brand new idea and we've never seen incentive payments going to these sorts of tasks," Douglas said.
Govt to introduce incentive payments for police
"Importantly, the incentive payment goes back into road policing, so you'll see that come through next year.
"I think what's going to be really important though, is just to monitor the impact of that… just make sure there's no unknown consequences of that happening.
"So let's have a look at it as a tool. If it keeps police focused on delivering those 3.3 million breath alcohol tests, that's a great thing. But let's look at it when we've done it for a year and see if it's worked."
Brown, appearing on Morning Report on Monday, was asked why not just let the police use the full funding package from the start, rather than have some withheld.
"This is about making sure there's really clear targets," he explained. "It's about ensuring that both the police minister and myself have the ability to hold police to account, but also to ensure NZTA and the police, when they're having those conversations around safety on our roads, have those tools that they need to ensure police are focused in a consistent way on on road safety.
Simeon Brown. Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER
"We haven't had that in recent years, and so we're taking a different approach to ensure we get that consistent approach - and that's what this government's about. We want to achieve outcomes, and we're going to make different decisions and do different things to get that."
[audiohttps://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018951747/govt-to-introduce-incentive-payments-for-police
The additional money, paid for out of the National Land Transport Fund, is not for bonuses to encourage staff to hit targets - but will just to be used for more policing.
"Yes, it's a different approach to what's been done in the past and it ensures that New Zealand Transport Agency - who provide this funding, which is taxpayers' money - to police, can have better conversations around performance to ensure that we're having a consistent approach.
"The police are have 1070 dedicated road safety police officers, and I want to ensure that they are doing their job of maintaining those consistent numbers of breath tests. Once drug tests are rolled out, we want to make sure that's done in a consistent way."
If police reach their targets without needing the extra $72 million, Brown "that funding then gets shifted, gets made available to the police".
The scheme will also have a target of carrying out 50,000 drug tests per year. Brown said it would be via a saliva-based swab.
"They do a couple of those, and if you fail both of those, then there's an immediate suspension and the sample goes off for testing."