Review of Northland speed limit reduction plan welcomed, but more needs to be done to lower road toll

The Prime Minister’s recent announcement about speed limit changes has forced a review of Waka Kotahi’s plans for major speed reductions on Northland’s state highway network Photo / Michael Cunningham

Waka Kotahi is reviewing plans to cut speed limits on a wide swathe of Northland’s state highways after Prime Minister Chris Hipkins ditched much of the unpopular policy, but a road safety campaigner says while the review is welcome, far more work needs to be done to lower the region’s appalling road toll.

The transport agency was proposing lowering speed limits on 14 stretches of state highway across Northland, including outside 34 schools across the region and north Auckland, but not everybody in the region has been happy about the proposal.

The proposals are a key focus of the Northland and north Auckland speed review, and a key action under New Zealand’s Road to Zero road safety strategy, which aims to set safer speed limits around all New Zealand’s schools by the end of 2027.

The national roading body has been running public consultation on the controversial plan, but that is all now up in the air after Hipkins’ announcement.

While slashing a number of government policies last week, Hipkins said speed limit changes, which had been intended to apply to 20-30 per cent of the country’s state highways in the next five years, would now be focused on the most dangerous 1 per cent of roads and where local communities supported the change.

A spokesman for the roading body said Waka Kotahi and local authorities are developing speed management plans as part of the Road to Zero strategy.

‘’The speed management plan for state highways which Waka Kotahi is developing primarily targets high-risk sections of state highway, as well as lowering speeds around many schools and some marae, and putting in place more intersection speed zones,’’ the spokesman said.

‘’In response to the Government announcement, Waka Kotahi is reviewing our state highway speed management plan to ensure that the highest risk state highways are prioritised, alongside targeted changes to speeds around schools and marae. We’ll update people on any changes to proposed speed limit changes on state highways in the region when we’ve completed our review.’’

Tracey Rissetto, chairperson of the Automobile Association Northland Council, welcomed the review of the review but said there were plenty of other tools that the Government should be looking at to reduce the road toll.

So far this year eight people have died on Northland’s roads, with the 2022 total of 38 road deaths the highest in 22 years.

Risetto said Northland had the highest rate of deaths on state Highways in the country so Waka Kotahi had a vital role to play in reducing the region’s road toll.

Tracey Rissetto, chairperson of the Automobile Association Northland Council, says lowering speed limits needs to be backed up with other enforcement work from police and Waka Kotahi. Photo / Michael Cunningham

‘’Speeding reviews or lowering the speed limits are a quick fix, but it needs far more than that. There are other tools that they should be focusing on too,’’ she said.

Risetto said looking at all high-risk behaviours of restraints, impairment, distraction and speed (RIDS) and enforcement action to make sure the public was complying, all needed to be worked on at the same time.

‘’Even things like ropes/barriers down the centre of the highways. They make a huge difference in preventing head-on crashes and there are so many roads in Northland that do not have them. They should be investing far more into the Rids - it’s an investment into our lives and safety - and they need to be looking at all of these issues, not just speed.

‘’Waka Kotahi is really important in lowering our road toll, and I’m hoping they will give some funding for those other areas, to stop the gap while they are reviewing things. And also to look at engineering solutions.’’

Risetto said the recent damage to Northland’s roads from storms showed just how vulnerable the region’s roading network is.

‘’It means we have heavy trucks constantly going on detours on roads that were never designed to handle that amount of heavy traffic, but with the highways in the state they are, there is nowhere else for them to go. And that just puts more pressure on and causes more damage to those detour routes.’’

Details on current proposals for Northland can be found at www.nzta.govt.nz/projects/northland-auckland-speed-reviews/

Northland state highways being reviewed”

SH1 Pukenui to Kaitaia

SH10 Pakaraka to Taipa

SH11 Kawakawa to Paihia

SH1 Kawakawa to Whangārei

SH15 between SH1 (north of Kaikohe) and Otaika

SH12 Ōmāpere to Kaikohe

SH14 Dargaville to Whangārei

SH12 Brynderwyn to Ōmāpere

SH1 Whangārei to Te Hana

SH1 Te Hana to Warkworth

SH16 Wellsford to Waimauku