50 Victoria Street
Private Bag 6995
Wellington 6141
New Zealand
T 64 4 894 5400
F 64 4 894 6100
www.nzta.govt.nz
27 October 2021
Adam Parkinson
[FYI request #17069 email]
Ref. NZT-6673
Dear Adam
Thank you for your email of 7 October 2021 regarding the safety ratings for vehicles.
As you have asked a number of questions relating to vehicle safety, I will address each of your
questions in turn below.
1. How safety for people not in the vehicle is factored into this system - vulnerable users like
pedestrians and cyclists.
There are three light vehicle safety rating systems used in New Zealand; The Vehicle Safety Risk
Ratings (VSRR), Used Car Safety Rating System (UCSR) and Australasian New Car Assessment
Programme (ANCAP). They all incorporate vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists into
the overall safety rating.
VSRR is often used when there are low numbers of a specific vehicle which means there is not
enough real-world crash data, so the rating is based on the average crash rating of similar vehicles
(e.g. other small SUVs) from the same year of manufacture. The data is used to measure the safety of
the driver, people in other cars, pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. This safety rating is used for
approximately 30 percent of the New Zealand light vehicle fleet.
UCSR also uses real-world crash and injury data gathered from approximately 8 million police-
reported driver injury crashes across New Zealand and Australia. The vehicle safety ratings are
calculated by Monash University’s Accident Research Centre. Vehicles assessed under UCSR display
two ratings, one that indicates the vehicle’s ability to protect its occupants (Driver Safety) and a
second rating which takes into account driver safety and the vehicles impact on other road users, such
as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. This rating is displayed as ‘Overal Safety’ on
rightcar.govt.nz. Approximately 60 percent of the light vehicle fleet is rated under UCSR.
The remainder of the light vehicle fleet is rated by ANCAP, which assesses the design of the front of
the vehicle to minimise injury risk to pedestrians when struck. Vehicles are also assessed for their
ability to actively avoid or mitigate impacts with pedestrians and cyclists. In recent years they have
begun to display a rating for vulnerable road user safety.
2. How the weighting system for the final score works and how the weight of risks to people
outside the vehicle are assessed.
For information on how UCSR and VSRR weigh the final score please refer to this report conducted by
Monash University Accident Research Centre:
• https://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/1992177/UCSR-2019-Update-MUARC-
Report-338-updated.pdf.
In sections 4.2 and 4.3 of this report you can find the methodology of the Overall Safety ratings for
UCSR and VSRR.
ANCAP has a specific protocol for vulnerable road users. You can find a link to these protocols here:
• https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.ancap.com.au/app/public/assets/9b1474e72837e1509e4bf894
30baca24a5b64460/original.pdf?1594164464.
3. Does NZTA recognise that vulnerable users outside of vehicles need added protection and
that these vehicle ratings might influence that, as well as choices made by vehicle buyers.
Yes, Waka Kotahi’s Safe Vehicles Programme, the vehicle arm of Road to Zero, our road safety
strategy for 2020-2030 is focused on educating New Zealanders to make better vehicle choices not
just for themselves, but for all road users.
4. Are NZTA advocating for effective engineering controls (rather than these sorts of
administrative controls these vehicle safety ratings are), such as geo fencing, speed
limiters, geo fenced speed controls - for vehicles to make a meaningful dent in the
worsening DSI stats for Aotearoa?”
As part of the Road to Zero Action Plan, Waka Kotahi is working to identify new vehicle technologies
that could have a positive impact on the safety of the light vehicle fleet. This includes, but is not limited
to, the types of technologies you mention.
If you would like to discuss this matter further with Waka Kotahi, you are welcome to contact Todd
Wylie, Team Lead Safe Road Use Vehicles Speeds Roads and Roadsides, by email to
[email address].
Yours sincerely
Fabian Marsh
Senior Manager Road Safety
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