Proposed speed change slammed

Motorist groups opposed to the lowering of the speed limit on State Highway 6 between Nelson and Blenheim say they have lost confidence in the NZ Transport Agency and aren’t being listened to.

Representatives from the NZTA and local transport associations met last week to discuss a proposal to make the road safer. As part of its review, the NZTA is proposing reducing the speed limit from 100kmh to 80kmh.

The NZTA says it has received 800 submissions, with many organisations making joint feedback on behalf of thousands of members.

The Road Transport Association NZ (RTNZ), the New Zealand Trucking Association and the Automobile Association (AA) met with the NZTA to discuss their concerns about the proposed changes before making a submission.

RTNZ and trucking association spokesman John Bond said ‘‘everybody was fired up yet respectful’’, but after the 90-minute meeting, they felt ‘‘like we weren’t being listened to’’.

The RTNZ and the association made a joint submission which said the reasons given for ‘‘such a blanket change’’ to the speed limit were ‘‘misleading and need to be challenged’’.

It said its members, who made multiple trips each day on that section of the highway, had said it would take an extra two hours of driving time to do the same business. This created the possibility that the cost of goods and services might increase.

Bond said both groups did not mind compromising on some parts of SH6 that were near schools or in built-up areas, ‘‘but there is a lot of areas that don’t need changing at all’’.

‘‘Most of the crashes that were shown to us by NZTA were not speed-related.’’

The AA, which has more than 41,000 individual memberships in the top of the South Island, also said in its submission that it felt the information the NZTA had given the public was wrong.

‘‘For the public to base their submissions on misinformation is deceitful and unacceptable, and will provide the consultation with skewed answers.’’

The AA said it was wrong for the NZTA to say that reducing the speed limit to 80kmh between Nelson and Blenheim would increase the journey by just nine minutes. AA members had tested the journey in trucks and cars, and car journeys took ‘‘considerably longer’’ at 80kmh, while truck drivers might have to reduce the number of trips from four to three a day.

The Marlborough Chamber of Commerce also submitted against the proposed speed reduction. Chief executive Hans Neilson said it had the view ‘‘that information provided in the consultation document does not accurately reflect the extent of impact of the proposed changes, and has the potential to skew submissions’’.

‘‘The concerning thing about the proposed speed drop is that there is so many unexpected consequences that aren’t even referenced in the consultation document.’’

Neilson said that based on the degree to which Marlborough was serviced out of Nelson, there were likely to be unexpected economic consequences that would increase the cost of good and services between the two hubs.

‘‘Unfortunately, we have already seen a reduction in air servicing in the region, so roading is the main infrastructure we have, so another hit on that is really bad news for our business and for all of us,’’ he said.

‘‘It’s entirely feasible to suggest that better, safer conditions can be brought about through investment and safer road and infrastructure (and) driver education, which will also bring economic advantage to the region.’’