Driving at night in New Zealand is three times more dangerous than in other developed countries and low levels of street lighting could be to blame.
Researcher Godfrey Bridger delivered a report on the subject to an Australasian Road Safety research, policing and education conference in Wellington on Friday.
Mr Bridger said New Zealand road lighting standard means that highways are lit to only three-quarters of the levels of Britain, Europe and the United States.
And he said residential streets are lit to as little as a quarter of the lighting levels in other developed countries.
Mr Bridger said that with better road lighting, New Zealand could reduce its night-time road deaths and injuries by 35% and save 61 lives per year.
