A new AA Research Foundation report has found ‘reckless behaviour' – including drink-driving and speeding – contribute to around half of fatal crashes, while 25 per cent of serious injury crashes involve drivers who are generally obeying the road rules, but crash after making a mistake.

The findings are based on detailed reports from 300 crashes that resulted in either a fatality or serious injury.

'This report confirms the need to create a safe transport system which accommodates for human error so that simple mistakes don't result in avoidable deaths and injuries on our roads,” says New Zealand Transport Agency director of safety and environment Harry Wilson.

'The safe system concept underpins our approach to road safety, striving to prevent crashes and reduce the severity of crashes when they do occur.”

He says rather than blaming the road user for causing a crash, it acknowledges that even responsible people sometimes make mistakes in their use of the road transport system.

'The safe system has four equally important pillars - safe roads and roadsides, safe vehicles, safe speeds and safe road use.

'We're working to make improvements in all of those areas, and we hope this new report will help to broaden the road safety conversation beyond questions of ‘who was at fault' in a crash, to look at the bigger picture and what we can do collectively to make our system safer.”

National road policing manager Superintendent Steve Greally says police are working hard to contribute to a safe system by encouraging safer road use through prevention and enforcement.

'We know people can mistakes when they're driving. That's why we ask them to make good decisions to start with, to lessen the impact of mistakes,” he says.

'It's simple things like making the choice to wear your seatbelt, because if you do make a mistake and crash, wearing your seatbelt greatly improves your chance of survival.

'It's also why we ask people not to drive too fast - the speed you're travelling at when you crash has a direct impact on whether you are able to walk away from a crash with your life, and if you do, on the severity of your injuries.”

He says the report shows that speed is one of the main issues leading to fatal and serious injury crash outcomes.

'Quite simply, less speed means less harm.”