Road toll

The Ministry is responsible for officially recording road toll information. This page contains information on the daily, quarterly and annual road toll.

On this page:

• Daily road toll update
• Monthly road toll statistics
• Quarterly road toll report
• Historical road toll information
• Quantative analysis of the road toll
• Holiday road toll information
• TERNZ Report - Why do People Die in Road Crashes?
• 5 year road toll comparison

Daily road toll update

The Ministry monitors the national road toll on a daily basis and records this on our website.

More detailed information on regional road toll information can be found on the NZ Transport Agency website .

Monthly road toll statistics

Table showing number of deaths each calendar month from 1965.

Quarterly road toll report

This summary reports on New Zealand's road toll by quarter with historical trends.

Statistical data and analysis is made available (via an Excel spreadsheet) in March, May, September and November for the preceding quarter. This spreadsheet contains detailed information and graphs.

View the latest data

Jan 2016 to Dec 2016

End-of-year report

This end-of-year report provides a summary of road toll trends. It will be available in March of each year.

Download the latest report

Road Toll Report - December 2016

Annual road toll historical information

The data within this section dates back to 1921, which is as far back as the Ministry has records available.

View the Annual road toll historical information.

Quantitative analysis of the road toll

The New Zealand road toll decreased 24 percent - from 375 deaths in 2010, to 284 deaths in 2011. A mathematical and statistical analysis of the 2011 road toll decrease was prepared.

View the analysis of potential factors behind the 2011 reduction in New Zealand road fatalities .

A statistical anlaysis of longer term trends in the road toll has been done to help identify the contribution of different factors to the decrease in the road toll since 1990

View the results of the preliminary analysis of road toll trends

Holiday road toll information

Data has been collected on the road toll during set holiday periods throughout the year. This data is collected due to the high number of extra road users there are during this time. For more information on specific holidays, please follow the links below.

Further information on the Christmas/New Year Road Toll

Further information on the Easter Holiday Road Toll

Further information on the Queen's Birthday Holiday Road Toll

Further information on the Labour Weekend Holiday Road Toll

TERNZ Report - Why do People Die in Road Crashes?

The Ministry of Transport commissioned TERNZ Transport Research to analyse a sample of road crashes to get a better understanding of why people die in crashes.

The focus was not on the cause of the crash, but rather why there was an impact severe enough to result in death.

The analysis looked at:

• the characteristics of the roadside
• pre-crash speeds (related to impact severity, rather than the cause of the crash)
• restraint or helmet use
• vehicle characteristics
• after crash medical care.

The report finds wearing seatbelts and helmets, the age and weight of vehicles, and speed are among the crucial factors in whether or not someone survives a crash

The findings of Why do People Die in Road Crashes have in part informed Safer Journeys, Government’s road safety strategy to 2020.

Download the TERNZ report

Read about Safer Journeys Action Plan

Read the Associate Minister of Transport's media release

Road deaths for the 5 years 2011-2015

The following tables give a brief summary of the road death statistics for the 5 years from 2011-2015.