The Government is failing to deliver on its self-declared number one priority of road safety, National’s Transport spokesperson Chris Bishop says.
“Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter has talked a lot about road safety and getting the road toll down, but she hasn’t backed up her talk with action.
“The Government was aiming to build 198 kilometres of new median barriers on state highways by 2021, but after almost three years it has built just 18km.
“The Government’s target for new side barriers on state highways is 322km by 2021, but so far it has only done 151km – not even 50 per cent.
“About $1.4 billion was supposed to be spent on keeping Kiwis safe on our roads, but the Government has shelled out just $474 million.
“Julie Anne Genter’s personal passion is changing speed limits, but the Government has only altered speeds on 35km of roads, compared to its target of 7500km.
“These are KiwiBuild-like numbers from a Government that has shown utter ineptitude on transport. It has failed on roads, it has failed on light rail, and now it’s failing on road safety.
“These numbers are deeply embarrassing for Transport Minister Phil Twyford and Genter, who are both out of their depth and unable deliver when it comes to making our roads safer and getting transport projects underway to create jobs and stimulate our economy.
“Only National has the team to deliver on transport and get New Zealand moving again.”
