Plan to cut highway speeds hits bumps
Waka Kotahi is proposing lower speed limits on 14 stretches of state highway across Northland, near schools and marae — but not everyone is in favour.
The proposals are part of a national speed management plan and the Road to Zero strategy.
Vanessa Browne, Waka Kotahi’s national manager of programme and standards, said the proposal was about safety.
“Good speed management is a fundamental pillar of the ‘safe system’ approach to road safety, which is recognised internationally as the most effective way to reduce deaths and serious injuries.
“At the same time as we develop the speed management plan, Waka Kotahi is also delivering large programmes of work as part of Road to Zero to support the other safe system pillars — safer roads and roadsides, safer vehicles and safe road-user behaviour.”
The lowering of speed limits around schools was intended to make it safer for children to walk, cycle, scoot or bus to school, she said.
Similarly, the lower speed limits around marae were designed to protect whānau attending hui, tangihanga or other events.
The speed changes affect parts of SH1, SH10, SH12 and SH14.
Ashley Johnston, Northland Road Safety Trust programme manager, said the speed limit proposal was complicated and confusing.
“There needs to be more of a standardisation of speed limits so
we’re not hopping back and forth between three or four speed limits in a couple of kilometres,” she said.
Johnston said she supported lower speed limits outside schools and marae, but not frequent speed changes on the same stretch of highway. Speed limits also needed to go hand in hand with better road engineering, she said.
“It feels a little bit like we’re having one without the other.”
Speed has a “massive impact” on whether crashes result in deaths and serious injuries, Johnston said.
She acknowledged crashes sometimes happened because people became impatient with slower drivers, and urged people to be patient on the roads, especially over summer.
“We’re going to have people coming up who aren’t locals and may not be as confident on our roads.”
AUT Professor of Sociology Charles Crothers said why people speed is unclear, but there was a “slightly detached mentality” when people were driving, and motorists would do things without thinking about being in a powerful machine.
“Some of it is just sheer habit, you’re trying to get from X to Y as fast as you can.
“That sort of takes over your concern with safety.”
An example of the detached mentality was people picking their noses at traffic lights, thinking no one could see them, Crothers said.
One proposal is for a 30km/h variable speed limit for various times of the day on part of SH1/Western Hills Drive near Whangārei Boys’ High School — down from 70km/h.
Regent resident Allan Kerrisk said the change was not needed, as students seldom crossed SH1 or were dropped off on the main road.
Kerrisk had not heard of any crashes or issues on the road, he said.
“Is it just a rule for the sake of a rule?”
Speed limits around schools are generally set at 30km/h in urban areas — formerly 40 km/h — and 60 km/h in rural areas.
A Waka Kotahi spokesperson said the agency’s approach considers the surrounding area of the school, rather than the streets directtly outside its front gate.
“During the technical assessment phase, we observed residential areas near Whangārei Boys’ High School with potential for walking and cycling on the state highway.”
Waka Kotahi was required to make “reasonable efforts” to implement safe and appropriate speeds around all schools by 2027, the spokesperson added, and they welcome community feedback on the proposal.
“Part of the conversation we are having with schools is to learn more about how tamariki are getting to and from school, to help determine the safe and appropriate speed limit.”
Another six stretches of road near schools around the region have proposed new speed limits of either 30km/h or 60km/h: SH1 near Te Kura o Te Kao, Ngataki School, Pāmapūria School and Umawera School, SH10 at Kaingaroa School in Kaitaia, and SH12 near Paparoa School.
Consultation is open on the proposal until December 12. People can access information and submit feedback on the Waka Kotahi website.