The head of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) is warning Warrant of Fitness (WOF) certifiers to step up or risk having their licences taken off them.
Sir Brian Roche said certifiers "haven't always played the game that we need them to play" in terms of ensuring New Zealand's roads are safe.
"Our role is to give them the chance to rectify, and if they don't rectify, then we have to be able to take their licence off them," Sir Brian said on Wednesday.
- Call for WOF checks to be every six months
- Review finds NZTA's regulatory model is 'dispersed, 'not performing'
- WOF warning: More than 5500 motorists driving potentially dangerous vehicles
His comments followed Transport Minister Phil Twyford's announcement that NZTA is getting up to $45 million injected into its regulatory function after a review found it isn't up to scratch.
An independent review by Martin Jenkins found NZTA has failed to properly regulate the transport sector, pointing to a lack of underlying factors evolved over time.
NZTA's regulatory functions were described as "inadequate", with structural constraints, a lack of clear regulatory strategy, and "weak regulatory leadership and expertise".
"We've seen a massive blowout in deaths and injuries on our roads over the last decade and the systemic failure of NZTA's regulatory role, in my view, has clearly contributed to that," Twyford said.
"But the blowout in deaths and injuries on the roads, the causes go wider than just NZTA's regulatory function... That's why we've made safety the number one priority."
He said NZTA has been "treating the people it was supposed to be regulating as its customer", and said that's "wrong".
"These WOF certifiers and other heavy vehicle certifiers, they are not the customers of the NZTA - they are people who are being regulated.
"The customer is the travelling public who deserve to have confidence that this regulatory system is as good as it can be."
He said what WOF certifiers can now expect is a "regulator that pays attention to whether they do their job and whether we can rely on them to always do their job in all circumstances".
A spokesperson for NZTA said changes to driver tests isn't currently being considered.
"Any broader changes to the rules around driver licensing would require legislative change, which would be initiated by the Ministry of Transport."
Where did it all begin?
It follows the NZTA board's announcement in October 2018 that the agency had not been performing its regulatory function effectively.
The following month NZTA confirmed that William Ball of Dargaville had been killed in a vehicle certified by an inspecting organisation that the NZTA had concerns with over several years, but had failed to take action.
Several WOF inspectors were suspended at the time.
Twyford said it shouldn't have taken someone losing their lift for the review to happen. But despite the Martin Jenkins report, he said he's sure the cars on the road today are safe.
Twyford pointed blame at the former National-led Government: "We're cleaning up a mess here that was left by the former National Government."
National leader Simon Bridges was Transport Minister at the time.
National's current transport spokesperson, Chris Bishop, said under National, NZTA was "renowned as one of the highest performing agencies in Australasia", and under Twyford, "it is dysfunctional".
"It's shameful that Phil Twyford has cancelled 12 road projects across New Zealand that were ready to go, despite a $7.5 billion surplus. People will die unnecessarily because of this."
Twyford said it's not about pointing the finger at one particular person.
"It happened across the entire system and that's why we've referred this report to the State Services Commissioner because I think there are lessons for the entire public service to take from this regulatory failure."
He said the Government has no plans to increase fuel excise, but is considering further cash injections into NZTA to "put things right".
The $40 million investment in NZTA will help hire about a hundred new people.
Newshub.
