Safety
In early 2008, Transit New Zealand (now the NZ Transport Agency) unveiled KiwiRAP (the New Zealand Road Assessment Programme) in cooperation with other government agencies and the New Zealand Automobile Association. The system, based on similar programs overseas, categorises New Zealand state highways according to the safety of discrete 'links' (sections of the network, with a total of 10,856 km of highways separated into 172 links ranging in length from 2.4 km to 318 km). These are graded according to their 'individual risk' and their 'collective risk' based on historical crash data and traffic volumes.
- The individual risk is based on the likelihood of a single driver experiencing an accident while travelling the link in question. As of 2008, the three least safe sections of the network based on individual risk were State Highway 62 from Spring Creek to Renwick (Marlborough), State Highway 37 to Waitomo Caves and State Highway 94 from Te Anau to Milford Sound.
- The collective risk is based on the total amount of crashes that occurred on the link, which pushes somewhat safer, but very highly travelled sections of the network to the top of the statistical category. As of 2008, the three least safe sections of the network based on collective risk were all on State Highway 2, on the sections from Napier to Hastings, Mount Maunganui to Paengaroa and Bay View to Napier.
Both categories of assessment are to be used as an advisory tool for both drivers to inform them of dangerous road sections as well as to allow Traffic Controlling Authorities to prioritise maintenance and safety improvements.
Read more about this topic: New Zealand State Highway Network
Famous quotes containing the word safety:
“Once women begin to question the inevitability of their subordination and to reject the conventions formerly associated with it, they can no longer retreat to the safety of those conventions. The woman who rejects the stereotype of feminine weakness and dependence can no longer find much comfort in the cliché that all men are beasts. She has no choice except to believe, on the contrary, that men are human beings, and she finds it hard to forgive them when they act like animals.”
—Christopher Lasch (b. 1932)
“Firm, united, let us be,
Rallying round our Liberty;
As a band of brothers joined,
Peace and safety we shall find.”
—Joseph Hopkinson (1770–1842)
“There is no calamity which a great nation can invite which equals that which follows a supine submission to wrong and injustice and the consequent loss of national self-respect and honor, beneath which are shielded and defended a people’s safety and greatness.”
—Grover Cleveland (1837–1908)