Slower speeds outside schools, not the whole highway, say principals

Tuesday, 15 October 2019

NZTA is pushing for 100kmh speed limits on State Highway 6, like this stretch through Canvastown, to be dropped to 80kmh.

Even those who have lobbied for slower speed limits between Blenheim and Nelson, around schools and townships, say making the entire stretch of highway 80kmh is unnecessary.

The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) last week announced it was pushing for the 100kmh speed limits on State Highway 6 to be reduced to 80kmh.

Police investigate a fatality near Canvastown in 2016.

If approved this would mean the entire length of SH6 between the two towns, a distance of about 110km, would not be more than 80kmh at any point.

The idea has sparked widespread backlash, with a petition to stop the proposal in its tracks receiving close to 8000 signatures in less than a week.

Motorists already have to slow down when they hit Rai Valley.

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The Trout Hotel sits just off State Highway 6, in Canvastown.

In Canvastown, about halfway between the two centres, the local school has 40 students, aged 5 to 13-years old.

Principal Monika Prusass said they had been lobbing NZTA to have the speed limit outside the school reduced to 60kmh during school hours and 80kmh at all other times.

'I drive from Picton or Nelson to Canvastown School and I think it's OK to drive at 100kmh on some areas but the speed needs to be reduced around the school,' Prusass said.

'We have had three near misses and one accident in this year already,' she said.

Canvastown Community Association chairman Alan Rees said they had lobbied for the speed limit around the school to be reduced for three years.

His predecessors had been trying for 15 years, but it had 'fallen on deaf ears', he said.

'The school is located on a long stretch of road, and overtaking vehicles make it dangerous to road users and the school kids,' Rees said.

'My feeling is, around the school, for sure speed should be dropped, but I don't agree that the speed from Blenheim to Nelson should be 80kmh all the way, there are sections of the highway which are suited to travel at 100kmh but some sections you can't, so the speed should be based on the road conditions,' Rees said.

Further along the highway, in Rai Valley, area school principal Maree Furness agreed, calling for slower speeds outside schools, and the status quo the rest of the highway.

'We have number of students walking around the 100kmh road which is a high risk, it's a really busy road, and we would like the speed limit to be dropped to below 60kmh,' she said. '[But] absolutely not [along] the entire State Highway 6.'

Furness was mostly concerned about logging trucks and tourists going past the school, she said.

Back in Canvastown, resident Carleen Shallcrass said the lack of a passing lane and uneducated drivers were the main contributors for road crashes.

'Leave it [speed limit] as it is and maybe have more passing lanes so people can pass easily, and more driver education is what is needed,' Shallcrass said.

'People doing stupid things, that's causing the accidents, it's actually more slow drivers and people trying to pass people,' she said.

Havelock Takeaways Robbie Barron also supported extra passing lanes.

'It [speed limit] should stay the same, I think it's bloody ridiculous … couple of idiots on the road are making things difficult, a passing lane would be helpful but I think the speed limit should definitely stay the same,' Barron said.

NZTA director of regional relationships Jim Harland said last week reducing the speed limit on the highway was the most effective way of improving the safety of the road, adding there was no engineering 'easy fix'.

'It's popular with cyclists, busy with freight and commuters, and there are school children and others crossing the road in 100kmh environments,' Harland said.

'We are investigating other improvements such as safety barriers, but one of the immediate actions we can take right now to prevent people from dying or being seriously injured is to reduce speed limits, so they are safe and right for the road.'

Between 2009 and 2018, there had been a total of 19 deaths and 87 serious injuries on 100kmh zones on SH6 between Nelson and Blenheim.

If the proposal was approved, it would increase the journey between Nelson and Blenheim by nine minutes, with half of that time from the Blenheim to Havelock leg, Harland said.

Public submissions on the proposal open on Tuesday October 15 and will close on November 12. Submissions can be made (from October 15) at www.nzta.govt.nz/blenheim-nelson-speed-review