What are the Government going to do when this year turns out to be one of the deadliest on the roads in years?

That is the way we are tracking, this past weekend it stood at 307 deaths.

Leaked material from Waka Kotahi suggested they had mapped the country for problem roads and turns out just about every road is a problem road. So they are suggesting they drop the speed limit to 80 kilometres per hour.

This is what happens when you reach a point where all the ideas you have tried don’t work. If 80 doesn't solve it, it will be 60. They're already at 30 at many downtown areas of urban New Zealand.

It does follow that if the speed limit was 5 kilometres an hour, the road death toll would drop. How could it not?

But the economic damage not to mention psychological impact would far outweigh any road toll gains. I am assuming that somewhere between where we are now and that particular absurdity is where they might look to head towards.

The answer is, of course, the quality of the roads. We have shocking roads, but we don’t want to spend the money. It's not helped by a government that doesn’t like roads. They would far rather spend money on trains and buses that people don’t use.

And they are in a bind, because Julie Anne Genter launched her Road to Zero campaign which as the numbers sit, is an abject failure. But then again, who is surprised?

What do you reckon has been spent over the years on ads? They've been warning us, cajoling us, and threatening us. But, to what end?

My view is that bad accidents are the result of a couple of things. Exceedingly bad luck, in other words you are in the wrong place at the wrong time. It isn't your fault and no amount of advertising and road rules would have stopped it.

• Multi-million dollar road to zero: Govt cops criticism for 'extraordinary' ad spending
• Kerre Woodham: I'd like to see more govt spending on road safety, not ads

And idiots. Whether by madness, booze, drugs, criminal activity, poor cars, or insane behaviour. It's the stuff that is  preventable, but only if the fool behind the wheel was behaving differently.

Those sort of people are not reached by ads on telly and cops that aren't on the road.

So, back to the question; when we get to the end of the year in a month or so and the toll is up yet again, one of the worst yet again, what then? Another ad agency ?