Drivers ignore new speed limit

It’s meant to help reduce confusion for drivers, but a new speed limit on an Auckland motorway is causing bemusement instead as many motorists are choosing to ignore it.

The speed limit is now 80kmh permanently on the Northwestern Motorway between Rosebank Rd and Spaghetti Junction to ‘‘reduce confusion for drivers’’ and ensure safety, NZ Transport Agency’s Brett Gliddon said in a press release.

The new 80kmh limit would also apply through the yet-to-open Waterview Tunnel all the way to the Dominion Rd interchange on the Southwestern Motorway.

A drive down the Northwestern Motorway shows some motorists aren’t keeping to the speed limit. We drove the eight kilometre stretch of motorway on April 10, at 80kmh.

Many motorists, including a bus, motored past our vehicle, seeming to travel much faster than the speed limit.

Ranui resident Roger Evans said driving at 80kmh on the motorway felt like ‘‘being a rock in a river’’ as others sped past at 100kmh.

Janice Berry from Massey said it was unfair to have an 80kmh speed limit and thought it was ’’stupid’’. She said it was understandable to have a speed limit through the tunnel but not on the motorway.

Te Atatu South resident Kim Miller didn’t think the 80kmh limit would help congestion. She said she tended to speed on the motorway but had been going the speed limit recently as she got ‘‘a big ticket’’.

The speed limit would be enforced in the same way as on other parts of the motorway network, a police spokesperson said.

‘‘For example, with a combination of speed cameras, officer enforcement and other tools that are deployed on crash risk.’’

It was up to the police officers’ discretion when it came to leeway for speeding, the spokesperson said. Speed cameras would be installed in the tunnel, the NZ Transport Agency’s media manager Sarah Azam said.

Four police speed cameras would operate outside the tunnel and would be subject to comprehensive testing before going live, the police spokesperson said.

They are expected to be operational by the time the tunnels open and would be enforced by police radar and pace checks, the spokesperson said.