The risk factors
Learning more about the road safety risk factors and the steps you can take to reduce them will help you build your safe driving skills. It's about being aware of the risks so you can keep yourself and other road users safe.
What are the risks? Crash statistics collected over the years identify certain key factors:
- speed - the faster you drive the less time you have to respond to hazards and the more likely you'll suffer serious injury in a crash
- alcohol or drug impaired driving - consuming alcohol or other substances can impair your judgement and slow your reaction times behind the wheel
- driver fatigue - driving when you're tired, weary or exhausted can have the same effect on your skills as driving after drinking alcohol
- driver distraction - anything that diverts your attention for more than a second can significantly increase your likelihood of having a crash or near-crash
- giving way at intersections - failing to give way at intersections is one of the main causes of death and injury on New Zealand roads
- safety belts - wearing a safety belt or child restraint correctly fitted reduces the risk of being killed or seriously injured in a road crash by 40 percent.
Additionally, some drivers are more at risk than others - for example, younger drivers aged 15-24.
See Safer Journeys 2020 (External link) to learn about how the land transport sector is working to create a safe road system that is increasingly free of road deaths and serious injuries.
Sharing the road with cyclists
Here are some tips for motorists about sharing the road with cyclists:
- Take special care when driving near a cyclist – slow down when passing them. Be prepared for them to move without warning.
- Indicate clearly and in plenty of time when turning and stopping.
- Cycles are vehicles and have as much right to be on the road as you.
- Know your blind spots, especially when driving vans, trucks or buses, and check again for cyclists.
- Take another look at intersections. Cycles are smaller than other vehicles, and many drivers who hit them claim not to have seen them.
- Avoid overtaking a cyclist just before you turn at an intersection.
- Take care when passing cyclists on the open road. Slow down and ideally, leave at least 1.5 metres of space between you and the cyclist.
- Check rear-view mirrors and look over your shoulder before you open a car door at the road side.
- Don’t insist on your right of way, even when the cyclist is in the wrong.
- Slow down and be alert when visibility is reduced. Cyclists are often hard to see, and are even more so in the rain or in low-light conditions.
The Bikewise website has more safety tips for motorists and cyclists.
