KEY POINTS:
Transport officials will review national advertising priorities after a police estimate that 26 lives could have been saved last year if all those killed on the country's roads had been wearing seat belts.
Of the 359 people killed in road crashes last year, 50 were not wearing restraints, and the police believe just over half of those might be alive today had they been belted in.
Ministry of Transport land safety chief David Crawford said yesterday the proportion of avoidable deaths in that category was disappointing, and followed a curtailment of national advertising in view of survey results showing high levels of seat-belt use by vehicle occupants in general.
Surveys in 2007 found belts being used by 95 per cent of adults sitting in front seats and 87 per cent in the rear of vehicles. Only 2 per cent of children aged under 5 were unrestrained in vehicles, although 7 per cent were wearing adult safety belts rather than purpose-built child restraints.
Provisional figures for what was the lowest road toll since 1959 show that speed was again the biggest killer, accounting for 36 per cent of deaths, followed by 34 per cent in which drink-driving was a suspected cause.
Twice as many males as females were killed in 2008 - 240 against 119.
Waikato had the highest regional road toll for the second consecutive year, with 72 deaths, although that was markedly fewer than the 89 people killed there in 2007.
It was followed by the Auckland region, with 55 deaths, of which 20 occurred in Manukau - four more than in 2007 and the highest figure of any city or district in New Zealand.
The ministry is keen on investigating a potential link between the road toll and petrol prices. Monthly death rates were markedly lower than 2007's in the half-year between June and November, a period in which 64 fewer people were killed, prompting speculation that high prices may have caused drivers to slow down to conserve fuel.
