The strategy

Download a copy of Towards ZERO Together (PDF 4.41MB)

This strategy is about you.

It's about every driver, every motorcyclist, every pedestrian, every cyclist all having respect for each other.

It's about thinking safety and changing our behaviour every time we venture onto our roads.

It's about admitting to ourselves that creeping over the speed limit - even just a little - is not acceptable, that driving after drinking is just not on, that running a red light is risky dangerous driving.

It's about not taking drugs and driving, not texting, taking or making a mobile phone call in the driver's seat.

We all think we're good drivers. Most of us are, but we all make mistakes, sometimes only minor inattentive errors of judgement, momentary lapses in concentration - mistakes which can have disastrous consequences on the lives of those around us.

We've seen some encouraging reductions in deaths and serious injuries on our roads over the past decade, but progress has slowed. It is time for us to set new and ambitious targets and make difficult decisions.

This strategy aims to reduce our annual road toll to less than 80 fatalities and 800 serious injuries by 2020.

I believe this is an achievable target.

We could go a long way to getting there right now if every driver and their passengers automatically buckled up their seat belts as soon as they sat down because one third of driver fatalities involved people not wearing a seat belt. The decisions people make when they get in the car are important.

We will need to make some decisions that not everyone will agree with, but we must do everything possible to remove dangerous driving behaviour from our roads.

I believe we can collectively all make a difference, but every dollar and every decision needs to count.

This strategy was developed in a spirit of shared responsibility with contributions from your communities, local government, road safety experts and interest groups.

I commend the strategy to you and ask that you take the time to read it and make a conscious decision to work towards bringing the road toll down through your own personal attitude and driving behaviour.

Hon Tom Kenyon MP 

Minister for Road Safety