KEY POINTS:
Drivers face losing their licences faster if they keep speeding or running red lights in breach of sweeping new road safety rules.
Neither will they be allowed to use radar detectors to avoid being caught speeding, under a package of measures the Government announced yesterday to cut the road toll to no more than 300 deaths a year by 2010.
Much of the package is aimed at young drivers.
It modifies the graduated licensing system, especially through an extension of the minimum time for which young drivers must be supervised at the wheel.
The Government has decided to accept reduced revenue in general from fines against motorists in return for prescribing higher demerit points for those caught speeding or failing to stop at intersections.
Next year will see a three-tier demerit scheme of 25, 50 or 75 points - depending on the seriousness of offending - towards the 100-point threshold at which licences are suspended for three months.
Drivers also risk having their cars impounded for exceeding speed limits by more than 50 per cent, meaning 75km/h in urban areas, compared with 90km/h now.
Demerits will be higher for all speeding offences, but the toughest clampdown will be on drivers running red lights, who will be slugged with 75 points compared with 20 now.
That should put an extra sting into a red-light camera trial due to start early next year at 10 of Auckland's most dangerous intersections.
Auckland road policing manager Inspector Heather Wells welcomed the move as "a big wake up" for drivers who were too blase about the risk of injuring or killing others by ignoring red lights.
The minimum time for which people younger than 25 must stay on learner licences before graduating to restricted licences will be doubled to 12 months next year. Such drivers will face tougher practical tests before moving up.
Those on restricted licences are in for considerably lower fines but higher demerit points for breaching conditions such as bans on driving without fully licensed supervisors at night or with passengers.
Their vehicles may also be impounded for 28 days on a second breach of such conditions, but fines will be slashed from $400 to $100 for each offence.
Even failing to wear a seatbelt will attract 25 demerit points as well as $50 fines.
Radar detectors will become illegal, attracting fines and demerit points on an escalating scale in a three-year, phase-out plan. Those using detectors will initially face $50 fines and 25 demerit points, rising to $150 fines and 75 demerit points in the third year.
Transport Safety Minister Harry Duynhoven said he was prepared to withstand a potential backlash by those using detectors to lessen their chances of being caught.
"My job is to try to save lives out there on the road - if people don't like it, tough."
The existing $400 fines for breaches of restricted licence conditions were not working, as young drivers often split the amount with their illegal passengers or avoided paying amounts which they could not otherwise afford.
"But demerit points do work because we know that for these young people, losing their car is the top thing we can do to them," the minister said.
Automobile Association spokesman Mike Noon said the package would go a long way towards safeguarding young drivers by increasing supervision requirements at a time when they were most vulnerable.
He said that a proposal in United Future leader Peter Dunne's private member's bill to raise the minimum driving age to 16 would simply "move the casualty rate out by a year" without ensuring youngsters had more practice before taking sole charge of a vehicle.
Allowing the police to impound vehicles for repeated licence breaches may also make parents more vigilant about the behaviour of young drivers - especially if parents were the vehicle's owners.
Mr Noon said that although he expected the ban on radar detectors to "polarise" motorists, the new strategy of reducing fines while increasing the chances of putting offenders off the road should dispel any criticism of the police for acting as alleged revenue-gatherers.
Ministry of Transport land safety legislation manager Leo Mortimer said that although the 2010 road toll target would be tough to meet, the new measures would "certainly give it a good nudge, because we really want people to change their behaviour".
The Government is also considering in a separate exercise a zero alcohol tolerance for drivers under 20.
