\u201c[But] the drivers are nowhere near. The driving is worse now than what it was back then because there\u2019s so many people that are not going through any licensing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got tens of thousands of people on the road that shouldn\u2019t be on the road because they don\u2019t have licences, they\u2019ve had no formal training, they\u2019ve had nothing, they\u2019ve taught themselves. And we\u2019ve got a lot of people coming from overseas that don\u2019t have any kind of licensing either.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the road toll is on the decline, Murphy says those in power are not doing enough to prevent hundreds of people dying on our roads each year.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn acceptance by our politicians of this many people dying and not doing anything about it just shows how inept they are at understanding these serious issues,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the care and the money that we spend a year on road safety and transport and programmes and stuff is eye-watering \u2013 and yet 300 people [are] dying at a social cost of up to $12 million per person.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy can\u2019t we forward-spend some of that money and actually improve the situation?\u201d<\/p>\n
Data from the Ministry of Transport show the social cost of road crashes was $9.77 billion in 2021 \u2013 representing 4% of the country\u2019s GDP.<\/p>\n
Murphy told Real Life<\/a> that for many of the worst drivers on New Zealand\u2019s roads, speed isn\u2019t the issue \u2013 it\u2019s just that they \u201chave no idea what they\u2019re doing\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re not prepared, they don\u2019t know anything about cars, they don\u2019t understand the mechanical side of things, they\u2019ve had no training, they don\u2019t know where they\u2019re looking, their reactions are poor,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can tell when someone is not prepared or had any kind of training by the way they sit in their cars. That\u2019s even a dead giveaway.\u201d<\/p>\n Murphy says while most of those who go through AutoSense\u2019s training are young people, everyone would benefit from formal driving training because \u201cit\u2019s embarrassingly easy and simplistic\u201d to get a driver\u2019s licence in New Zealand.<\/p>\n But he\u2019s opposed to self-driving cars being seen as part of the solution, labelling them \u201ca joke\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want to get in one of those, just get on a bus. If you\u2019re going to get in a vehicle and go tell the car to do it and not pay attention to what\u2019s going on, then you should not have a driver\u2019s licence,\u201d Murphy told Cowan.<\/p>\n \u201cTesla\u2019s handed out hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements through their cars killing people because they\u2019ve been in autopilot … The best way to deal with all this stuff is to actually have proper, trained drivers that have proven that they are capable of driving cars in the cars and managing that themselves. I\u2019m deeply concerned by this push in this area around transport.\u201d<\/p>\n Elsewhere in the interview with Real Life, Murphy spoke about his sons\u2019 burgeoning racing careers, New Zealand\u2019s obsession with motorsport and the networks that have allowed the likes of Liam Lawson and Shane van Gisbergen to crack the big time on the international stage.<\/p>\n Real Life is a weekly interview show where John Cowan speaks with prominent guests about their life, upbringing, and the way they see the world. Tune in Sundays from 7.30pm on Newstalk ZB or listen to the latest full interview here<\/a>.<\/p>\n