Ryan Bridge: A theory on the record low road toll

The road toll is sitting at zero for the long weekend. 

Six people died last Labour Weekend, which is a tragedy. 

The road toll is the lowest Labour Weekend toll since 2013, when we had one death on the roads. 

Why do we think this has happened this particular weekend? 

Is it the Road to Zero that the previous government introduced? 

Is it the fact we've had some road upgrades, some potholes fixed potentially? 

Or is it just random stats? You know, we should really be looking at annual averages, not weekend blips which can jump around – a bit like our weekend of sport last weekend, which was a bit of a con job. 

It just so happened we had a bunch of sporting finals on the same weekend, it wasn't like we were comparing apples with apples like an Olympics tournament, was it? 

So, was it one of those situations? 

Or, and here's my theory, we didn't really travel much this weekend – and this is based on nothing other than my own experience. 

But I was on Waiheke Island at the weekend, enjoying the long weekend. Beaches were nowhere near as full as they would normally be, and this was on the good day when the weather was nice. 

Restaurants, same story. The wineries, the vineyards weren't as busy. 

Is the cost of living crisis affecting our travel? I think it is, I think it's having a big impact. 

Did you go away this weekend? Did you pack the car? Take the kids? Were you driving safely? 

That is one theory I have as to why our Labour Day road toll is currently sitting at zero. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The road toll currently sitting at zero for the long weekend,
we are still technically in the road toll period. It
ends at six o'clock. Six people died last Labor weekend,
which is a tragedy the road toll so far, and
if we hold out, if you're safe on the roads
for the next half an hour, it will be the
lowest Labor weekend toll since twenty thirteen we've had when

(00:22):
we had one death on the roads. Why do we
think this is Why do we think this has happened
this particular weekend. Is it the road to zero that
the previous government introduced, Is that the fact we've had
some road upgrades, some potholes fixed potentially, or is it
just random stats? You know, we should really be looking
at annual averages, not weekend blips which can jump around

(00:44):
a bit, a bit like as I was talking to
Andrew Ordison about earlier, a bit like our weekend of
sport last weekend, which was a bit of a con job.
It just so happened we had a bunch of sporting
finals on the same weekend. It wasn't like we were,
you know, compared aring apples with apples like an Olympics tournament.
Was it so? Was it one of those situations? Oh,

(01:06):
and here's my theory. We didn't really travel much this weekend.
And this is based on nothing other than my own experience.
But I was on Wahiki Island at the weekend and
enjoying the long weekend. Beaches were nowhere near as full
as they would normally be, and this was on the
good day when the weather was nice. Restaurants same story,

(01:26):
The wineries of vineyards weren't as busy. Is the cost
of living crisis affecting our travel? I think it is.
I think it's having a big impact. Did you go
away this weekend? Did you pack the car, take the kids?
Were you driving safely? Was there lots of traffic? What
was your experience? That is one theory I have as
to why our road toll is currently sitting at zero.

(01:50):
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