The not fast and the very furious: 30kph limit plans for NZ towns

Sunday, 9 July 2023

The government’s Road to Zero project set targets to reduce speed limits across the country, but some dispute it will stop accidents

Plans to reduce speed limits to 30kph in suburban streets are “absolute insanity”, critics say.

The Government's Road to Zero project includes major speed changes in roads across the country. Local authorities have created speed management plans for reduced speed limits on streets around 40% of local schools by June 2024, and the remaining schools’ nearby streets by December 2027.

In Tauranga, where there are a number of schools within the city, proposed changes would see the majority of inner city streets move to 30kph.

Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell has launched a petition opposing the blanket speed reductions to 30kph. He said the plan was “absolute insanity”, and that National would scrap the targets.

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“This is being dictated to the Tauranga City Council by a Labour government which has put in place regulations requiring every single council across New Zealand to reduce most suburban roads to 30kph.”

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins tweaked the Road to Zero programme in March as part of his policy purge. At the time, he said Waka Kotahi would focus on reducing the speed on just “the most dangerous one percent of state highways”.

While the government transport agency sets speed limits on highways, the Land Transport Rule: Setting of Speed Limits 2022 requires local councils to set area speed limits on roads within their control.

Tauranga business person Karl Paprzik said reducing most of the city’s roads to 30kph was “ridiculous”, and would have an adverse effect.

Motoring safety commentator Clive Matthew-Wilson said better roads, rather than speed reduction, should be the focus

“Tauranga drivers are, by far, already the worst in the country. We have a large aged population, but it’s not just them. I drive all over the country, but you know when you come over the Kaimais to Tauranga you’re going to get bad drivers, no indicators, no one paying attention.”

Road rage would escalate too, he said, in a city that had the country’s worst traffic.

“Tauranga drivers are already on the edge with all the roadworks – throw 30kph in the mix and people will be furious.”

Emphasis should be on driver education, not speed, he said.

National’s Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell said blanket reductions in speed limits were “absolute insanity”.

Bike shop owner Leonie Bettridge said it was “ludicrous”.

“They should focus on enforcing existing speed limits rather than changing. Apart from around schools at certain times which is important.”

Tauranga City Council’s director of Transport Brendan Bisley said it was required to consult on the introduction of 30kph speed limits outside schools, and it would also consult on making the current temporary 30kph speed limit in the CBD a permanent restriction.

Road safety campaigner, Clive Matthew-Wilson, said the Road to Zero project was “a dismal failure” and blanket speed reductions were not particularly effective and tended to alienate law-abiding motorists.

Variable speed signs were better, he said.

“The school near me lowers the speed limit when the children are arriving at or leaving school. The rest of the time, the normal speed limit applies. This is plain common sense that works for everyone. It would be silly to continue to lower the speed limit when there’s no one at school.”

Resistance to targets was mounting across the Bay of Plenty region, with the plan to reduce Whakatāne district towns to “a snail’s pace” of 30kph described as fanatical by its mayor Victor Luca. That plan is also currently up for public feedback.

The brakes are already on for Wellington’s similar speed reductions to 80 percent of the capital, after it had to withdraw its plan from public consultation when an error was spotted that overstated the cost benefit by more than $250m.

A spokesperson for Transport Minister David Parker said the government had “no plans to review the Road to Zero 2030 targets”.

“Latest forecasts indicate that the country is trending towards a 30-35% reduction in deaths and serious injuries on the roads by 2030.”