‘Somebody will get killed’: Road speed changes spark fears for safety

Friday, 6 June 2025

Rarely a fortnight goes by without a near miss outside the school gates and Ridgway School principal Sarah Patterson fears someone will have to die before changes are made.

Changes, pushed through by the Government and put into effect by the Wellington City council over the weekend, have raised fears they are reversing years of effort towards increased safety.

The Wellington City Council confirmed the speed along sections of Adelaide Rd, Rintoul St and The Parade were changed over the weekend from 30kph to 50kph as part of new Government transport rules, introduced in January.

The Land Transport Rule: Setting of Speed Limits 2024 required NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi and local councils to reverse all speed limits lowered since January 2020 on several categories of roads back to their previous limits by July 1, 2025.

“Safety was not a factor council was allowed to consider in implementing the changes,” a council spokesperson said. “Council officers are working on advice about future processes in terms of speed limits.”

The new changes also required local streets outside of a school to have a 30kph variable speed limit and rural roads outside schools to have a variable speed limits of 60kph or less by July 1 next year.

Patterson’s school is not directly affected by the weekend changes – she never got the speed reduced outside her school despite years of lobbying. She said close calls were a fortnightly occurrence at the two school crossings.

Drivers often exceeded the speed limit and sometimes didn’t even notice the crossing. It was a “miracle” nobody had been badly injured yet, she said.

“What we are most concerned about is that somebody will get killed.”

Julia Ravji and her three children were almost hit by a car, while crossing with her three children on the way to Ridgway School recently. But her campaign for traffic calming near the school long pre-dated that.

The council said they may look into it in 2028.

Mark Potter, principal of Berhampore School near Adelaide Rd, said speed restrictions on the road had previously been brought down because there had been multiple injuries to children over the years.

Road speed had not drastically changed since the weekend, he said.

“We don't know if there's going to be a massive change, but we have real concerns that it could increase the risk to our children again.

“It shows that someone doing something at a distance has no idea what's happening at the local level … They (the Government) shouldn't make these arbitrary decisions when it's been worked through locally with the council and agreed.”

Rongotai MP Julie Anne Genter raised concerns with Minister for Transport Chris Bishop with an open letter, signed by Berhampore School, South Wellington Intermediate School, Adelaide Early Childhood Centre, Alexandra Rest Home and Village at the Park.

She asked for an exemption to the new rules so that the council was not forced to spend money to raise speed limits where the current 30kph speed limits are working well and supported by the community.

The change was ”totally unpopular,” Genter said.

“When it comes to making changes to make it safer around schools, communities are having to beg and plead and wait years, but the government puts in a nonsensical rule that doesn't make any sense, and they (the council) comply with it overnight.

“My fears are that somebody will have to die before they're going to make the changes that we know will prevent deaths and serious injuries.”

In response to the letter, Bishop said he had no ability to waive the requirement, and at this stage, had no intention to amend the rule. It did not prevent the council’s network to be reviewed in the future, he said.

The Wellington City Council indicated the cost of changing all required speed limits under the new Government rules would be $150,000.