A Parliamentary committee's rejection of a petition calling for a reversal of the decision to lower the speed on the Napier-Taupō highway is a "frustrating" blow for the campaigner who made the move.
Kiri Goodspeed, who lives near highway landmark Te Pōhue and is now one of seven people seeking election in Hastings District Council's new Takitimu Māori Ward, lodged the petition on March 3, a fortnight after national highways management agency Waka Kotahi NZTA dropped the limit from 100km/h to 80km/h as a safety measure on more than half the troubled stretch of State Highway 5.
Goodspeed says the petition's failure to budge the politicians highlights the lack of practical steps that interest groups, members of the public and even local authorities can take to challenge decisions even in the face of overwhelming opposition, such as that met by the speed decision.
The only other option at the time she lodged the petition was legal action and a form of application for judicial review, considered by the Regional Transport Committee and local authorities, and one Goodspeed says would have run into costs of tens-of-thousands of dollars "very quickly."
But since then, NZTA has, amid its 'Road to Zero' policy, said all connecting highways between regions should have an 80km/h limit unless they have a median strip, which would also hit large stretches of the 2000km of SH1 from North Cape to Bluff.