Prepare to slow: Drastic speed cuts across NZ needed on the 'road to zero'

Wednesday, 28 September 2022

The Government is working on a road safety strategy to drive substantial improvements in road safety in New Zealand. (Video first published in December 2019)

New Zealand’s ambitious goal of having a road toll of zero will only be achieved with drastic speed reductions on most roads, those trying to stop people dying on our roads warn.

Official government figures state that 90% of New Zealand’s maximum speed limits are unsafe – covering almost every road in the country.

Police say a 80kph open road speed limit should be an absolute maximum on roads with no protective median barriers. While some disagree about the exact way we need to bring the road toll down, there is wide agreement that slowing vehicles down is crucial.

“It’s a shift that has been underway for several years but is going to become really noticeable to people in the next year or two with all road controlling authorities around the country now required to produce a regional speed management plan by 2024,” said AA motoring affairs spokesman Dylan Thomsen.

* Lower speed limits proposed for 800 Auckland roads

Ninety percent of New Zealand’s speed limits are too fast and must drop if we want to cut fatal accidents, authorities sy (File photo).

* Franklin speed limits split local government and education providers

AA advocated for some reduced speed limits alongside road improvements and maintenance.

Police director of road policing Superintendent Steve Greally is among many calling for a speed reduction.

The Government’s Road to Zero strategy seeks to reduce road deaths and serious injuries by 40% by 2030, then eventually to zero. A total of 318 people died on the road last year and 268 had died by Wednesday , making 2022 the worst year so-far since the same time in 2018.

Mike Cornford, a now-retired 42-year veteran of the Masterton fire station in Wairarapa, attended many fatal accidents and said there was no doubt slower speeds gave people more time to react and reduced accidents.

But he was doubtful that dropping speed limits wholesale would have a big impact on the road toll.

“If you get everyone driving at 80kph, there will be impatience on the roads. People will start overtaking and that will be more dangerous,” he said.

Eastern road policing manager Matt Broderick, whose staff regularly dealt with fatal accidents, is clear: A crash at 80kph will generally result in his staff calling a family to say a loved on is in hospital but, at 100kph, it will be a “miracle” if it is not a morgue.

An April police briefing to then-Police Minister Poto Williams, released under the Official Information Act, argues that 'unsafe speed limits' contributed to 60% of all deaths and serious injuries from road crashes.

National road policing manager Steve Greally said the 80kph limit should be a maximum for undivided roads but this should drop to 60kph for “windy, tortuous, or unsealed roads”.

Te Manatū Ministry of Transport mobility and safety manager Helen White said that 58% of deaths and serious injuries in the 2020-21 year were on roads where “the speed limit is higher than the safe and appropriate speed for the road”.

”This doesn’t mean that speed was a contributing factor in all these crashes,” White said. “But we do know that in the event of a crash, the speed of impact is the most important determinant of the severity of injuries sustained and the probability of death.”

Waka Kotahi Road to Zero manager Tara MacMillan said work was already underway with local authorities to identify roads where lower limits would save lives.

“Lowering speed limits doesn’t mean we don’t make other changes, like installing median barriers and rumble strips, but it is one of the most effective changes we can make quickly on roads with high crash rates where the speed limits are not safe or appropriate,” MacMillan said.