Quota System Labour’s Downfall

Candor Trust and Akilla Foundation

Candor and Akilla Foundation congratulates retiring Constable Phil Robertson for his unflinching honesty about the failure of Labour’s speed and alcohol ticket quota system, officially known as the RAM (Resource Allocation model), which he says has too much focus on revenue gathering.

Mandatory adherence to the computer generated regional quotas is turning Police into glorified meter maids. The tunnel vision and hardline attitude by Senior Police decisionmakers supporting this methodology, with no evidence and no compromise, is costing NZ'ers heavily in trauma and lives every hour of the day. It's not worth having the highest fatality risk in the OECD per km travelled and leading youth tolls for the revenue.

Others at senior policy level who spoke out against the approach were unable to remain in their jobs under Labour and more whistle blwing is needed. It is not OK that Senior Police are leaving their jobs due to a disreputable road safety experiment which 3 MoT reviews have shown increases trauma.

Candor Trust and Akilla Foundation agree with Mr Robertson that RAM (the road safety quota model) isn't best for stopping road deaths or trauma - when you look at the recent tripling of the ACC crash claims account to 6.8 billion in liabilities (2009). The quota system is built on Treasury Economists false economies and is costing the country an excessive slice of GDP.

RAM's public face is the "Greatest Enforceable Risk Policy of pushing speed and alcohol publicity to legitimise tickets (LTSA Safety Directions), and suppressing non ticket campaign issues, incidentally the biggest killers on the road; inattention, drug driving and driver fatigue.

It simply does not work, and it is time for the media to stop supporting the dumb RAM and dumber GER approach, by addending every road toll article with the GER blinkering statement that "Police have not yet (or have) revealed whether speed or alcohol were involved". These matters account for less than half of the toll, and often do not act alone.

We are unsurprised the rebellion comes from Southland. Heads must roll; the experiment tagged high risk in LTSA papers re developing it, was conducted knowingly. Southland was the initial pilot area pre National roll out in 2003, it failed there first say papers by Dave Cliff. Glitch?

It is not good enough that Police have been thusfar required to take the advice of a RAM scientist at MoT, who delivers the quotas, to "ignore the results and try to believe the (trial) system works". Erebus pales in comparison. Because even honest Police have now spoken out about what we've campaigned on for years, it's time for a Royal Commisssion of Inquiry. We have a lot to present to it.

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