A month after Auckland speed limits dropped, actual speeds haven't changed

Thursday, 30 July 2020

Speed limits are coming down on 660km of roads across the Auckland region.

It’s been a month since speed limits were slashed on more than 600 Auckland roads – but new data shows journey times have barely changed.

Monitoring by Auckland Transport shows speeds have stayed pretty much the same from June to July.

That’s despite the speed limit on some city centre roads being cut to 30 or 40kmh, and some rural roads being reduced from 100kmh to 80.

The speed limit change has had little or no impact on average journey time, AT found, because travel speeds were already below the new speed limits.

* Speed limit cuts confirmed for hundreds of Auckland roads

The speed on some rural roads has been slashed from 100 to 80kmh.

* Police to take 'educational approach' towards Auckland's lower speed limits

Take Symonds Street in the city, for example – the limit has been cut from 50 to 30kmh, but the average speed during morning rush hour has stayed at 21kmh.

The same is true of rural roads in Franklin and Rodney. While speed limits have been cut by 20kmh, the majority of journey times have increased by less than 30 seconds.

The speed limit cuts were brought in at the end of June with the hope of averting 84 deaths or serious injuries over the next five years.

It's too early to say whether the changes are having the desired effect of improving safety; AT said they track this over the long-term so will start analysing data in about a year.

However, localised speed reductions in past years have been shown to boost safety.

Comparing the decades before and after the 2008 reduction to part of Queen Street to 30kmh, AT said crash rates fell by 39.8 per cent, including a 36 per cent reduction in deaths and serious injuries.

While the recent changes had the backing of Auckland councillors, not everyone was happy. The AA called for a “less blanket” approach and wanted major CBD arterials such as Nelson, Hobson and Fanshawe streets not to be lowered from 50kmh to 40kmh as proposed.

Auckland Transport surveyed 610 Auckland drivers two weeks after the changes came into effect and found 61 per cent supported the cuts.

More than half of the respondents who were aware of the changes felt their travel time had increased, despite the data showing journey times have barely changed.

Where journeys have taken longer, it’s been by less than one minute.