Helping make New Zealand’s roads a whole lot safer

Most deaths and serious injuries on NZ’s rural state highways are caused by head-on collisions or drivers running off the road and hitting trees, poles or deep ditches.

The Safe Roads Alliance was established by the New Zealand government in 2015 to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on high risk rural state highways.

Bringing together the NZ Transport Agency with other parties, including Beca, the Alliance delivered a programme of safety improvements across the country.

As locals know their local roads best, the Safe Roads Alliance worked closely with communities and stakeholders to find solutions that best fit with how they use the road day-to-day, every day. The Alliance's philosophy; it's 'their road, not ours'.

The safety improvements made rural roads more forgiving of human error and reduced the chance of people dying or being seriously injured if they crash. Mistakes will sadly still happen, but the goal was that if these roads and roadsides could be made safer, more people might survive those crashes.

Safe Roads Alliance improvements included roadside safety barriers, wide centrelines, improved road signs and markings, rumble strips, wider road shoulders, intersection upgrades, better signage and safe and appropriate speed limits.

The Alliance proved its ability to deliver complex programmes and partnered with the Transport Agency to support and guide long-term planning. Together, we helped ensure New Zealand's road safety efforts make an impact, and keep our road users as safe as possible.