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Speed limits on a busy route through Manukau City's southeast are expected to be reduced by the end of next month, after six fatal road smashes in 10 years.
A Manukau City Council committee is recommending a reduction from 100km/h to 80km/h in the limit along the city's share of Mill Rd through Papakura District.
The committee also wants the council to reduce a 70km/h limit to 60km/h along a section of Redoubt Rd, between the northern end of Mill Rd and Hilltop Rd, on Manukau's urban fringe.
That follows 85 crashes - of which five were fatal - on Manukau's 2.1km section of Mill Rd in the 10 years to the end of 2007.
Although there was only one fatal smash on the 1.8km stretch of Redoubt Rd in that time, there were 91 crashes, with 37 per cent blamed on speed, 30 per cent on drink-driving and 30 per cent on poor handling.
An earlier proposal for an even bigger cut to the speed limit on Mill Rd, to 70km/h in response to a residents' petition, was supported by the police but opposed by the Transport Agency's predecessor, Land Transport NZ.
Acting district road policing manager Senior Sergeant Mike Stopforth told council consultants that 100km/h was too high for a road which was "relatively narrow at some points with bends and dips that are unsafe at that speed".
"A number of head-on collisions have occurred and, because of the speed of both vehicles involved, the results have been serious," he said in a letter.
But he said a reduction to 80km/h rather than 70km/h would make enforcement easier, as it would be consistent with the limit in force on Papakura's share of Mill Rd, and therefore less confusing for motorists.
Mr Stopforth also considered the existing 70km/h limit on Redoubt Rd appropriate to its semi-rural environment, and opposed an earlier council proposal of a 50km/h limit.
Land Transport, with ultimate Government responsibility for road safety, opposed any reductions to the limits on roads which it told the council had sparse property frontages and where it would be difficult to achieve voluntary compliance by drivers.
Senior engineer John Janssen noted in a letter that both roads were district arterial routes with reasonably high traffic counts of around 12,000 to 13,000 vehicles a day.
Manukau City transport manager Chris Freke said the council had already improved a dangerous bend near the junction of Redoubt and Mill Rds but believed speed limit cuts were needed to make them safer.
He understood the police were "comfortable" with the more modest reduction now proposed for Redoubt Rd, to 60km/h, and said the council would seek enforcement support from them to reduce the limits on both roads by the end of October.
Senior Transport Agency regional official Peter Kippenberger said his organisation had yet to receive copies of the revised proposals and would appreciate an opportunity to assess and comment on them.
