Fuelling change in our life on the road

There are signs that fuel price rises are starting to affect driving and purchasing attitudes of New Zealand motorists.

Police and lobby groups agree change is happening - there is evidence of a general reduction in driving speed on the highways and growing demand for smaller or more fuel-efficient vehicles - but are unsure how far it will go.

Inspector Dave Parsons, road safety adviser to road policing support in the Office of the Police Commissioner, said it was hard to say if the recent petrol price jumps had affected travel.

"Certainly on the Friday there was a lot of congestion in the major centres so people may not be cutting back on their travel yet."

"[But] there is no doubt that motorists have slowed down.

"In the speed surveys, the average speed on the open highways has come down, in some cases up to about 4km/h."

While fuel conservation may have played a part, Mr Parsons said police action had also contributed in recent years to reducing speed on highways.

One indicator was the noticeable decrease in the number of speeding tickets as well.

In the year to December 2005, officer-issued tickets went down by 18 per cent and speed camera tickets by 17.7 per cent compared with the same period in 2004.

"That's still continuing."

This was despite police not introducing more speed cameras or increasing the number of officers on highway patrol, he said.

"Since 2001 when the highway patrol was fully up and running, traffic notices increased considerably but [from 2004], we are seeing the decrease and levelling off of notices issued."

As for the performance of motorists over Easter during which five road fatalities were recorded, reports Mr Parsons received showed they were generally well-behaved.

Motor Industry Association chief executive Perry Kerr said that in the last four years the trend was to move away from buying large cars of the Ford Falcon/Holden Commodore class in percentage terms.

"But equally, there has been an increase in the number of four-wheel-drives sold."

Between 2000 and 2006 there was a 44 per cent rise in the sale of new small cars and a 22 per cent drop in large car sales, offset by a 56 per cent increase in all-terrain vehicles (four-wheel-drive sport utility vehicles) sales.

"Over the last six months we have seen a trend in an increasing small car market that's been brought about by fuel price rises but it's also because car company designers are making these vehicles more spacious."

While hybrids were already available, he doubted a rise in their popularity because of their cost.

He felt there was potential for diesel-powered vehicles to increase their market share.

"Diesel with 50 parts per million of sulphur, which is to the international standard, is now available in New Zealand.

"This means that car companies can import and sell the latest Euro 4 compliant diesel vehicles which have particulate filters, are incredibly efficient and are very good to drive.

"My pick is that we will see quite an increase in the sale of diesel cars as well as diesel light and heavy commercial vehicles."

But Mr Kerr was unsure if more people would buy smaller vehicles because of the price of petrol.

"We are not going to see the new vehicle market all of a sudden selling only small cars tomorrow - people buy cars for other reasons than just fuel economy.

"It's a personal thing - maybe the current petrol price is enough for some people to change ... [but] I hear from distributors that the price of petrol is becoming an issue with people asking about fuel economy."

Mike Noon of the Automobile Association thought new car sales figures indicated people were looking at smaller vehicles.

"We advise people to consider buying a vehicle that is fit for the purpose they are going to use it for.

"People will make their individual choices, but fuel prices will cause people to look at their circumstances and re-evaluate their choice ... fuel economy will move up their priority list and that is appropriate."

The major oil companies were unable to provide any sales figures over the Easter holidays or were unwilling to release them on grounds of commercial sensitivity.

One spokesperson for an oil company said it was impossible to identify if people were travelling less because of fuel prices - other factors such as weather conditions and seasonal trends had to be considered.

Another said people appeared fatalistic about the rising price of petrol.

"Customers are not happy with the price but they realise that international prices are driving the rises as well as high Government taxes."

- NZPA