Lower speed limits proposed for Franklin district after spate of head-on crashes

Thursday, 12 August 2021

Auckland Transport is opening up consultation next month on whether speed limits should be lower in parts of the Franklin district. (File photo)

Franklin residents are invited to have their say on whether their roads should have lower speed limits, particularly around schools, town centres and marae.

Auckland Transport (AT) will run consultation for a month, beginning September 6, on a move to amend the Speed Limits Bylaw.

It comes after 36 people were killed on Auckland's roads in 2020.

A disproportionate number of those deaths were in Franklin, AT’s Natalie Polley said. Six people died and 44 people were injured in Franklin over the year.

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Most crashes in Franklin were head-on.

At 80kmh, a person’s chances of dying in a head-on crash is 30-40 per cent. At 60kmh, it is less than five per cent, AT said.

“In rural areas, in line with national guidance, road speeds are likely to be proposed as either 80kmh or 60kmh,” Polley said.

“Typically the roads are already being driven at, or close to, this speed already; so although the change might feel like a significant drop … in reality the actual impact on the driver is much less.

“In urban areas, again in line with national guidance, higher volume roads are likely to remain at 50kmh – but a lower speed of 30kmh is proposed for those areas with a lot of pedestrian, bike and escooter traffic, such as urban town centres, residential areas and those areas around schools.”

This new phase of the national effort will focus on the Pukekohe and Papakura areas, Kawakawa Bay and Hunua Ranges Regional Park.

In particular, Glenbrook Rd is targeted as it is a high crash area.

“Speed changes are designed to make the road network safer for all drivers – those living locally, plus the increasing number of people who are unfamiliar with the area,” Auckland Transport’s Natalie Polley said. (File photo)

Each road involved will be looked at individually, based on the volume of traffic it takes and is expected to take in the future, Polley said.

Franklin Local Board chairman Andrew Baker is urging residents to take up the chance to have their say.

“To say nothing leaves the decision-making in the hands of people who may have never driven a road in Franklin or spent much time on rural roads at all,” he said.

“The local board needs our communities’ thoughts so we can try to champion what our locals say is the best thing for our roads. We need people to say they are from Franklin and to identify the roads they are talking about.”

Baker said he hopes speed limits aren't the only thing Auckland Transport looks to when it addresses the high crash rate in the area, but focus on education and engineering around road safety too.

“At the end of the day, the majority of crashes are caused by driver choices and behaviour.”

Franklin is among the fastest-growing areas in New Zealand.

Another 120,000 people are expected to be in the area within the next 30 years alone, and its roads account for 16 per cent of Auckland's total road network.

“While previously local road drivers were those living and working in the area, we are seeing a lot more people commuting through Franklin roads – who either live there or further afield,” Polley said.

“Speed changes are designed to make the road network safer for all drivers – those living locally, plus the increasing number of people who are unfamiliar with the area.”

The areas that already have lower speed limits include the city centre, high-risk rural roads, residential areas and the town centres of Ōtāhuhu, Ōrewa, Mairangi Bay and Torbay.

Speed limit changes also began in June in St Heliers, Mission Bay and West Lynn town centres.