More deaths and injuries expected on Auckland roads due to Government's plans

Monday, 24 June 2024

The Coalition Government is taking a different approach to improving road safety.

Lowered speed limits that were introduced by the last Labour Government are expected to be reversed.

Speeding fines in New Zealand haven’t increased since 1999.

Auckland Transport has adjusted its targets for the number of people who'll die or have serious injuries on the city's roads, because of the Government's policy on road safety.

In its draft Statement of Intent chair Richard Leggat wrote it had become 'increasingly difficult' to meet Aucklanders’ expectations in light of the new government's draft Government Policy Statement (GPS).

'The draft GPS has signalled a shift in Government expectations for transport outcomes,' Leggat wrote.

“[It] reduces funding for safety through speed and infrastructure improvements and signals changes to rules around speed limit changes, potentially reversing previously lowered speeds. So, we project deaths and serious injuries to decrease only slightly, if at all, compared with previous targets.'

Auckland Transport’s target for deaths and serious injuries next year has been lifted from 616 to 631 and for the following year it’s been raised from 591 to 621.

Road crashes place a substantial burden on the economy and the health sector. The social cost in New Zealand is $9.77 billion a year, with $2b of that just in Auckland.

Under the previous Government's Road to Zero policy money was ring-fenced for speed and infrastructure changes, but following the scrapping of this money will be moved into a contestable fund.

Teresa Burnett, the group manager of transport safety for Auckland Transport, says they have passed on their worries in feedback to the GPS via Auckland Council.

“Auckland Transport raised concerns about the overall change in direction on safety, removal of ring-fenced funding for speed and infrastructure, the change in direction on speed limits and the impacts of this on our ability to achieve our previous targets,' Burnett said.

The Government plans to reverse Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions by July 2025, which will remove a lot of the 30kph speed limits around cities. But Minster of Transport Simeon Brown says road safety is a strategic priority for the Government.

'Simply slowing Aucklanders down with untargeted speed limit reductions or inconveniencing motorists by building expensive speed bumps all over Auckland’s roads is not the answer to improving road safety in Auckland,' Brown said.

'Our Government will improve road safety by targeting the highest contributing factors in fatal road crashes, such as alcohol and drugs.

'We will introduce legislation to make targeted interventions to improve road safety, such as increased investment in road maintenance, introducing legislation to enable oral roadside drug testing, increasing police breath tests to tackle drunk driving, and we will review fines for traffic offences.'

'Drugged and drunk driving is the largest killer on our roads and will be a top priority for this Government, rather than just simply slowing motorists down.'

However, Caroline Perry from the road safety charity Brake says it's disappointing that Auckland Transport has had to reduce its targets.

'We’re really concerned about the potential for lower speed limits to be reversed and those increased speed limits come in,' Perry said.

'We know from international best practice that 30kph is the safest speed to have in urban areas and neighbourhoods because it significantly increases your chances of surviving if you’re involved in a crash, particularly for pedestrians or cyclists.

'We need to be putting more in place to reduce deaths and serious injuries, and lower speed limits is a key part of that.'

Speeding fines have remained unchanged in New Zealand for 25 years. The penalty for going up to 10kph above a speed limit is $30.

Also, if a driver is caught by a static camera, the penalty comes with no demerit points, just the fine. In Auckland, about 80% of infringements are issued by these cameras.

In Victoria, Australia, there is a fine of A$240 (NZ$261) for driving up to 10kph over the speed limit, in the UK it's a minimum of £100 (NZ$207), but is also based on a driver's income and could go up to £1000.

Dylan Thomsen, the AA's road safety spokesperson, said the penalties in New Zealand need reviewing.

'It is time for us to be looking at that, not just speeding fines, but looking at all of our traffic fines and penalties,' Thomsen said.

'That’s part of the bigger picture, in terms of improving safety, speed is an important part of that, but it’s not the only part.

“We also need to be looking at our enforcement, the fines and penalties, the quality of roads in different places, so we can improve the infrastructure and make it safer.”

Regulation minister David Seymour said last week the current speed restrictions were based on nanny state ideology, not evidence and were depressing.

He said the blanket restrictions didn’t just make it harder for people to get where they wanted quickly and safely, they drained the joy from life as people were forced to follow rules they knew made no sense.

'People ignore rules that don’t make sense and once the habit forms, they ignore rules that do make sense. Sensible lawmaking is important for respecting the rule of law,” Seymour said.

Speed limits appear to have become a politicised issue. Those on the left wanting more restrictions and those on the right preferring fewer.

'Over the last few years it’s become really polarised,' Thomsen said.

'Unfortunately, it’s been framed in a black and white way, that you should either be in favour of lower speed limits on just about all roads in New Zealand or think no speed limits should change from what they were.'

Thomsen said speed was a factor in around 20-30% of fatal crashes and that the AA did research around this a few years ago.

'When people think of fatal crashes, they tend to think of extreme behaviour, drunk drivers, people doing excessive speeds, fleeing police,' he said.

'That research showed about half of our fatal crashes involved that reckless behaviour, the other half has tended to involve people making mistakes and generally being within the rules, but having the wrong circumstances come together.

'That’s why we need to be looking at speed and speed limits, but we need to also look wider at driver behaviour and changing that mindset.

'People shouldn’t think whatever the speed limit is, that’s the speed I should be travelling at.'

But Perry says that old message that 'the faster you go, the bigger the mess,' remains true.

'The speed limits that were set historically were default limits and were set arbitrarily many decades ago,' she said.

'Now, we have an awful lot more evidence about what speed means and survivability if you’re involved in a crash.

'We also have an increasing number of people living and working in Auckland, so those 30kph limits are making a difference.

'They’re making it safer to move around and they’re also making it safer for children to walk, cycle or scoot to school, which means we’re taking traffic off the road by doing that.”

Last year the AA Research Foundation looked at 30 locations on State Highways in New Zealand where the speed limit had been reduced from 100kph to 80kph.

At 60% of these locations, drivers were obeying the new speed limits, but at the other 40% they were being ignored.

“That showed us that we need to think about not just the limit, but what the road looks like and the environment around it,” Thomsen said.

“We need to be focussed much more on that when we’re thinking about speed limits, so we end up with limits that make sense and people travel at.

“Having a limit that most people go above, doesn’t really solve a purpose.”