New Zealand is a small, highly motorised, country with a population of about 4.1 million, over 3 million motor vehicles, over 2.8 million licensed drivers and some 92,000km of public roads. Most of the population live on the two main islands with population centres often separated by difficult, and in places, mountainous terrain. In urban areas most roads have a speed limit of 50km/h while outside urban areas roads are generally undivided and have a speed limit of 100km/h. There are only 170km of motorway. Traffic safety enforcement is carried out by the national police force, with dedicated funding provided from road user revenue. New Zealand does not have a car manufacturing industry so all cars are imported. In 2004 about two-thirds were imported second hand, with the majority of those sourced from Japan. In 2004 there were 436 people killed in motor vehicle crashes. Over the ten years from 1994 to 2004 road deaths decreased by 25%. Over those 10 years the New Zealand population increased by 14% and the vehicle fleet by 28% (Table 1 and Figure 1). The provisional road toll for 2005 is 405 with a death rate of 1.3 deaths per 10,000 vehicles. (Author/publisher).
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