Family tragedy recalled during safe speed vote
Christchurch city councillors opened up about their own loved ones who have died in car crashes, ahead of voting to delay the potential rollout of safer speeds across the city.
Councillor Mark Peters was calm but firm during the special council meeting yesterday, saying it was unfair to try to make him feel bad about wanting to pause the speed management plan process.
“My family very well knows the tragedy of losing loved ones. My parents were killed in a car crash 30 years ago,” he said.
Councillor Tim Scandrett, who has been a vocal advocate of slower speeds around schools for several years, said he also knew “only too well” how tragic road crashes could be.
“I love slow speeds ... but I am aware it takes time to get it right,” he said.
The 9:8 vote to pause the process followed a series of public speakers, including transport experts, all but one of whom urged the council to push ahead instead of waiting for Transport Minister Simeon Brown to announce what the new speed rules would be.
The rule the minister wants changed was commissioned by the former Labour Government, and requires the limit on streets around schools and some suburbs to be lowered to 30kph.
In December, Brown told councils – which are in control of setting speeds on local roads – that he planned to take action, but it isn’t clear what will change.
Lynette Ellis, the council’s head of transport, told councillors that so little was known about the prospective rule change, she couldn’t guarantee that speed reduction work around schools (already finished on Banks Peninsula, but under way in other suburbs) wouldn’t be reversed.
She said new rules were expected to be in place by the end of the year.
However, members of the public – including Simon Kingham, chief science adviser for the Ministry of Transport – did not think work should be delayed if the science supported slower speeds.
Kingham reminded councillors that a person hit by a car travelling at 30kph had a 90% chance of survival, but only a 10% chance of survival if the car was going at 50kph.
Harrison McEvoy, speaking on behalf of urbanist group Greater Ōtautahi, opposed a delay because it could take several months for the new rules to come out.
“We’re looking for council to take a degree of autonomy and leadership in this,” he said.
Shane Binder, a transport engineer with 22 years’ experience, lives in Beckenham, where speeds have already been reduced. He said the improvement was noticeable.
It was worth going ahead with the process because regardless of what change came out of central government, the opinions of Christchurch residents should come first, he said.
However, Councillor Andrei Moore was in favour of pausing the process because it might be a delay of only a few weeks.
He and other councillors said it was unlikely that a hearings panel with the public would begin before August, and by then the transport minister might release new information that submitters would want to take into consideration.