TOYOTA TRIUMPH SAFETY SOLUTION STALLED SALES
Celebrating its 40th year, the Japan
Car of the Year organization has once
again gathered in Tokyo Bay to choose
the best cars of 2019. The NZ Government is making
changes to speed management to
tackle unsafe speeds on New Zealand
roads. Some 60 jurors, representatives from
40 of the country’s most influential
automotive publications and dozens of
OEM executives gathered to witness
the vote-counting and prize-giving
ceremony for this year’s Japan Car of
the Year. Promoting safe travel speeds is a
critical part of improving road safety.
In the event of a crash, regardless
of its cause, the speed of impact is
the most important factor influencing
whether or not the people involved
can walk away from a crash alive. Light-vehicle sales in China fell for a 17th
consecutive month in November, with
the number of new energy vehicles sold
contracting for a fifth month in a row,
data from the country’s biggest auto
industry association showed on Tuesday.
Pre-ceremony hype centred on an
expected battle between the Toyota
RAV4 and the Mazda3 with the BMW
3-Series seen as a strong contender
for the import car of the year gong. There is strong evidence that a
decrease in the average travel
speed on a road is associated with a
decrease in the number of crashes, as
well as the severity. That tussle did not eventuate as the
RAV4 polled well from that start and
with a convincing total of 436 votes, it
triumphed to win the 2019 Japan Car
of the Year. Councils and the NZTA are already
working towards reviewing our highest
risk roads to reduce the risk of crashes
and improve safety outcomes. Speed
management treatments can involve
reducing speed limits or engineering
upgrades to the road.
The Mazda3 came in second with 328
votes while the BMW 3-Series finished
with 290 votes giving it the Import Car
trophy. The Toyota Corolla was 4th
with 118, the Jaguar I-PACE was 5th
with 109 and in 6th place, the Jeep
Wrangler polled 56 votes.
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ISSUE 20 2019 / WWW.AFMA.ORG.AU
The key initiatives of the Tackling Unsafe
Speeds programme include improving
how councils implement speed
management changes, transitioning
to lower speed limits around schools
and adopting a new approach to safety
cameras to reduce excessive speeds on
our highest risk roads.
Total auto sales in the world’s biggest
auto market fell 3.6 percent from the
same month a year earlier, according
to the China Association of Automobile
Manufacturers (CAAM).
That follows a drop of 4 percent in
October and 5.2 percent in September
as car sales in the country contracted last
year for the first time since the 1990s.
“The China 5-6 emission standard
change is the biggest reason for this
year’s sales plunge,” said Chen Shihua,
deputy secretary general at CAAM.
He added that overall car production
levels were now returning to normal and
carmakers had boosted their product
line-ups in the past few months.
In November, sales of EVs fell 43.7
percent, CAAM said, following a 45.6
percent drop in October. EV sales had
jumped almost 62 percent last year even
as the broader auto market contracted.