In fact, we have known this since at least 1870.

In that year Sir Julius Vogel's ground breaking Immigration and Public Works Bill was debated and affirmed by Parliament. That debate makes it clear beyond any doubt that Vogel was intending to embark on the greatest property development scheme this country has ever seen, using exactly the same economic principles that private property developers have always used for financing residential subdivisions: Mortgage your block of land, build a road through the middle of the block, divide the block into smaller parcels of land with direct access from the road. sell each parcel at the higher market value created by the road, pay off the loan and take your profit. However, for Vogel the profit was merely a means to an end, that end being a dramatic increase in the population of permanent settlers.

New roads => new settlers => new traffic.

Over 90% of our roads were constructed over one hundred years ago by this great Immigration and Public Works program. Unfortunately the combination of soft soils and heavy rainfall meant that a great many of these gravel and dirt roads simply turned into bogs in winter. To provide year-round access to rural communities it was necessary to provide these roads with a waterproof surface.The growth in demand for all-weather roads coincided with the growth in motor traffic with the result that the high cost of these "new" roads was paid for by the "wealthy joy-rider".

New months => new traffic

Over 90% of our tarsealed roads were constructed by the centenary of the Immigration and Public Works Act. In the next quarter century almost no major improvements or additions were made to our roads and highways yet they now carry twice as much traffic. Accident involvement statistics reveal that two-thirds of this traffic growth has been created by women.

"New woman" => new traffic.