The government's strategy to reduce road deaths and injuries failed to meet all but one of its targets, with breath testing and reducing speed limits lagging the most.

It comes as the country's annual road toll reaches 333 deaths, surpassing last year's and heading back towards 2018's terrible benchmark of 378 road deaths.

Waka Kotahi's annual report shows only one of six measures for the Road to Zero strategy was met for the year to the end of June.

It's working with the police and other agencies, including WorkSafe and local government to reduce road deaths and serious injuries by 40 per cent by 2030, from 2018 levels.

AA road safety spokesperson Dylan Thomsen says he's disappointed the country's annual road toll is now heading back towards 2018 numbers.

"We're going to be three years into the Road to Zero strategy and we're looking at road deaths being about the same level as that benchmark for our starting point. That indicates we have not made that much progress over the years which is really disappointing."

Waka Kotahi says the number of deaths and serious injuries are still "unacceptably high" but it's on track to achieve the 2030 Road to Zero target.

There were 2598 deaths and injuries on the roads in the year to the end of June, compared with 2757 the previous year.

The agency says although progress has been made toward reducing the number of people killed on roads, several of its key programmes were underperforming and it will need to lift its performance.

Passive breath tests and screening fell short of the target by almost a half, with 1.6 million tests against a target of three million.

Waka Kotahi says this is "well below desired levels" due to police being redeployed to help with the country's Covid-19 response at regional border checkpoints and in MIQ facilities.

Thomsen says breath testing is crucial to preventing alcohol-related road deaths.

"As we come out of Covid now we are expecting to see that alcohol testing number back up around the three million where it is targeted to be. If that doesn't happen it's going to be hugely disappointing."

It is not the first year the Road to Zero strategy has failed to meet all its targets - last year it was far off its targets for highway safety upgrades, which it is still behind on.

Waka Kotahi's annual report says only 165km of road has reduced speed limits imposed, compared to a target of 500km, due to community engagement taking longer than expected.

It met its target of starting safe system interventions at four intersections, was short on mobile camera hours due to camera breakdowns, was one project short of meeting its target for infrastructure safety projects and its success rate for safety ad campaigns, and was just shy of a 86 percent target due to its narrow focus on traditional advertising channels.

The agency says it will work with its Road to Zero partners to "lift our delivery performance for our infrastructure and speed management actions, vehicle safety, road policing, and road safety advertising and education".

The annual report also covers state highway and local road improvements, which fell short of targets in some cases due to ongoing Covd-19 impacts such as supply chain disruptions, cost escalation, and increased time taken to obtain consents and approvals.

-Amy Williams/RNZ.