Getting to Zero

Developed by Waka Kotahi, Road to Zero focuses on establishing a safe system approach that plans for human mistakes and prevents crashes turning into tragedies.

The team at Drive is committed to reducing the number of deaths and serious injuries to young drivers. Our goal is to contribute to getting to zero. Because it takes everyone to get to no one.

Young drivers at high risk

Over the past 10 years, around 7,000 young people aged 16–24 were killed or seriously injured on our roads. Young drivers make up only 13% of licence holders, but represent 30% of serious injuries and more than 25% of fatalities.

Research also shows that young drivers are more likely to crash in their first six months of having a restricted licence than any other time in their life.

Crashes which involve drivers losing control of their vehicles are a major feature in crashes involving young drivers.

Young drivers are less familiar with safe driving skills, more likely to take risks, and tend to drive in higher-risk situations – at night, when it’s raining or with friends.

Drive has been developed specifically for this at-risk age group.

How Drive Community is playing its part

Drive Community seeks to address the crash statistics by helping create safe, skilled and licenced young drivers.We aim to engage and educate young drivers, helping them make better choices and progress through the graduated driver licence system.

Our work aims to reduce the total social cost of road crashes on New Zealanders and has a significant impact on the long-term costs of road crashes. Claim tracking data indicates young drivers who have participated in Drive make approximately 40% fewer ACC claims than young drivers who have not participated.

A focus on road user choices

Drive Community wants to help motivate young drivers to comply with road rules and help them make safer choices on and around roads. To enable this, we want to:

• Help young drivers understand and apply the road rules
• Better support community driving educators through new tools and resources 
• Promote good choices, strategies and skills for a range of conditions and situations

A clear path ahead

While the road to zero is an ambitious one, we are doing our part, encouraging young drivers to be mindful of safety measures they can take when out on the road. Because it takes everyone to get to no one.

Road to Zero website