Auckland speed limit cut to cost ratepayers $24m

Wednesday, 27 February 2019

Auckland Transport has announced a plan to decrease speed limits around the city.

A controversial plan to slash speed limits on hundreds of urban and rural Auckland roads will cost Super City ratepayers $24 million.

Stuff obtained a list late last year showing nearly 800 roads spread across the region will be affected if the Auckland Transport (AT) proposal is approved following consultation, which starts on Thursday.

As well as a blanket 30kmh limit in the CBD, it includes 30kmh speed limits in a number of town centres, as well as widespread speed limit reductions on roads in the Rodney and Franklin districts.

But not everyone is on board – the Automobile Association (AA) is calling on AT to instead opt for a 40kmh CBD limit.

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Chief executive Shane Ellison says AT is targeting a 60 per cent drop in deaths and serious injuries on Auckland roads over the next ten years.

* Auckland Transport chairman says zero road deaths achievable, hints at slashed speed limits**

It also says rural motorists will be aghast at the changes.

The Automobile Association has called for Auckland Transport's to compromise on its proposal to lower speed limits around the city.

AT chief executive Shane Ellison on Wednesday declared Auckland was experiencing a 'road safety crisis'.

'In 2017, over 800 people were killed or seriously injured on Auckland roads – these are real people and the human cost of these tragedies is real as well,' he said.

Sixty-four people died on the region's roads in 2017, up from 36 in 2014, while serious injuries skyrocketed from 447 to 749 over the same three-year period.

Last year, AT network management and safety group manager Randhir Karma told Stuff that of the 64 deaths, 29 resulted from crashes where speed was a major contributor.

Ellison said AT was targeting a 60 per cent reduction in deaths and serious injuries on Auckland roads over the next ten years.

The latest speed reduction programme would cost about $24m.

'One of the advantages of reducing speed limits is we can do it quickly – as I say, we have a crisis [and] we can't sit on our hands,' Ellison said.

AT's analysis of research completed ahead of the proposal showed speed was a major factor in determining the consequences of a crash.

Ellison said a 30kmh speed limit on Queen St, in place since 2008, had led to a 36 per cent reduction in deaths and serious injuries in the city centre.

'Global and local examples and evidence shows that reducing speed works,' he said.

'We appreciate that there are some people in our community that disagree with the independent research, but for us the priority is about making our roads safer.'

While it supported bringing down speeds on high-risk Auckland roads, the AA said its members felt AT's proposal was a step too far.

Sixty-two per cent of 14,000 responders to a survey of Auckland members were opposed or strongly opposed to the extended 30kmh CBD limit.

Just 16 per cent were in favour.

In a statement, AA spokesman Barney Irvine said: 'A blanket 30kmh limit just doesn't pass the credibility test.

'On top of that, the Transport Agency and its Speed Management Guide recommend 40kmh for most roads in the CBD, and AT has shown no evidence to say we need to go below that,' he said.

'Without it, AT risks ending up with low compliance, high public frustration, and a future situation where speed limit changes become a no-go zone politically.

'That would be a poor outcome for road safety.'

Most of the proposed changes are actually in rural areas, Irvine said, and many Franklin and Rodney residents were in for a shock when they found out how many roads were affected.

'The big concern for us is the number of roads that are being reduced from 100kmh down to 60kh, or even 40kmh, when the Transport Agency recommends 80kmh would be safe and appropriate,' he said.

AT chairman Lester Levy said safety was the number one concern and priority for his organisation.

'We cannot let complacency trump safety – we have to work to get people to understand that nobody should be going out on our roads and getting killed or seriously injured.

'But for us to stop that happening we have to take many steps, and speed management is just one of those steps.'

But the AA questioned whether reductions on busy city thoroughfares, like Hobson, Fanshawe and Nelson streets, were workable.

'Everything about those road environments points to a 50kmh speed limit,' Irvine said.

'When the traffic is flowing, trying to get people to drive at slower speeds is likely to be an exercise in futility – particularly if the new limit is 30kmh.

'The only likely way to get compliance would be relentless enforcement, and that's not the outcome anyone wants to see.'

A full list of the affected roads can be viewed here.