Changes to police pursuits will save dozens of lives, a road safety campaigner says.
Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson
Police are now only able to start a chase if the need to catch the driver or passengers outweighs the risk or harm created by the pursuit.
Clive Matthew-Wilson, who runs the Dog and Lemon Guide, said it was a "courageous step" toward correcting narratives that blame people caught up in police pursuits.
"The reality is that often the people who have been hurt in police pursuits have been totally innocent strangers, passengers in the car that had no involvement in trying to flee the police."
He said the policy change, which followed a joint-review by police and the Independent Police Conduct Authority last year, would be unlikely to affect police's ability to catch criminals.
"They are just simply these situations where a car full of young idiots with a head full of adrenaline tries to outrun the police and ends up dead."
Between 2009 and 2018, 67 people died during police pursuits.