Push to keep 4x4 vehicles out of city

Drivers of cumbersome four-wheel-drive vehicles may find it harder to squeeze into central Auckland if the city council's transport leader has his way.

Richard Simpson, chairman of the transport committee, wants the movements of four-wheel-drives restricted to improve transport efficiency and has called for a report into the effects they have on the city centre.

The solution could be as basic as shrinking parking spaces to ensure four-wheel-drives cannot fit.

Mr Simpson agreed such a move would be controversial, but denied wanting to ban the vehicles outright.

"[Four-wheel-drives] do have a role to play in Kiwi life," he said.

"Obviously they have got their purposes - such as for going up mountains or towing boats - and there are some very big families which need them.

"But there is a land use issue in trying to get as many people as we can into the city safely, and these big vehicles lumbering around are taking up more space - they definitely are not vehicles for navigating around pedestrians in the central business district."

He said the inner city should be a place where pedestrians could feel safe, rather than risk being hit by large vehicles spewing out more fuel emissions than ordinary cars, although he accepted that compact four-wheel-drives should be allowed to stay.

About 190,000 four-wheel-drives are on the road, 6 per cent of the national vehicle fleet.

A quarterly road safety report said 35 out of 84 people killed in Auckland City traffic in five years to 2003 were "vulnerable" road users such as pedestrians or cyclists.

Although the report did not single out four-wheel-drives for blame, Mr Simpson said it stood to reason that pedestrians would have less of a chance against them than against smaller vehicles.

He also wants the council to consider ways of encouraging more fuel-efficient vehicles into the central city, such as by providing free parking for hybrid petrol-electric cars or for any using less than 5 litres for every 100km.

Mr Simpson suggested concessions parking buildings for vehicles carrying enough people to justify their presence in the urban jungle.

He would be ineligible for free parking based on fuel consumption, as he drives a high-performance Volvo S40 T5, needing more than nine litres to travel 100km.

But he says he prefers to keep this out of the inner city by walking between the council offices and his Parnell home and office.

Asked how his ideas would be received among his Hobson Bay constituents, commonly perceived to have a high four-wheel-drive head-count, Mr Simpson suggested that many households would have several vehicles and could bring smaller cars to the central city instead.

But Automobile Association motoring policy manager Jayne Gale said the proposal could lead to more vehicles in Auckland, with some families forced to buy another car to get into town.

"It seems a bit one-eyed."

Ms Gale acknowledged that four-wheel-drives were more dangerous for pedestrians. Overseas research suggested that for every four-wheel-drive occupant whose life was saved by being inside one in a crash, 4.2 other people died on impact with them. But she said busy city roads had to cater for a wide range of users.

Mr Simpson's committee has given traffic and roading services manager Joseph Flanagan until May to report back.