The changes would see speed limits dropped to 30km/h in much of Wellington. Photo / Dean Purcell
The changes would see speed limits dropped to 30km/h in much of Wellington. Photo / Dean Purcell
Up to 93 per cent of Wellington City streets could have low 30km/h speed limits under a draft proposal by the council.
Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau said lower speed limits painted a compelling way forward for the city.
“I acknowledge lowering the speeds will be a pain for some people and add a few minutes to our travel time in the city but for me, that seems to be a small price to pay when you consider public safety is at the heart of the issue.”
The Wellington City Council is required to introduce safer speed limits near all of the 81 schools located in the capital by the end of 2027, as part of the Government’s Road to Zero strategy.
The city has a high concentration of schools in a small geographic area.
The council has determined 80 per cent of urban streets are near or within walking distance of a primary, intermediate, or secondary school. The council is also looking at safer speed limits near the likes of kindergartens and playcentres.
Once this is all taken into consideration, as well as ensuring new speeds are staggered, about 93 per cent of Wellington streets were captured by the proposal to reduce limits to 30km/h.
Wellington City councillors have voted this morning to approve the draft plan for public consultation so ratepayers can have their say.
Councillor Iona Pannett said the move was a cheap way to reduce climate emissions and promoted the freedom of children.
“They need to be safe on the whole journey [to school],” she said.
Councillor Iona Pannett says the move is a cheap way to reduce climate emissions and promotes the freedom of children. Photo / Mark Mitchell
But other councillors criticised the plan for being a blanket approach.
Councillor Tony Randle said it was another one size fits all plan for Wellington that would slow down the city.
“There isn’t evidence the whole city is unsafe. There’s certainly evidence there are safety issues within the city, but averaging across the whole city doesn’t tell you where the blackspots are and I’d rather have a much more targeted approach.”
Councillor Tim Brown said there were appropriate speed limits for different roads.
“A standard model, which is what we’re being asked to support today, is fundamentally wrong- it’s just a wrong approach.”
Councillor Sarah Free was concerned about how lower speed limits would affect bus services, but councillor Teri O’Neill said a bus was significantly more dangerous than a car going at 50km/h.
Council transport and infrastructure manager Brad Singh said there was a more realistic chance of walking away from a crash not suffering serious injuries or death when speeds were reduced from 50km/h to 30km/h.
“The big thing to remember is that at 30km/h you have such a massively more realistic chance of walking away from a crash and not suffering serious injury or fatality than at 50km/h,” Singh said.
The risk of pedestrian death is about four to five times higher in a collision between a vehicle and a pedestrian at 50 km/h compared to 30 km/h, council documents said.
Between 2012 and 2021 there were 3,992 injuries reported from crashes on Wellington City’s urban street network, including State Highways.
This number included 31 fatalities and 650 serious injuries with an estimated social cost of $945 million, council documents said.
Wellington City Council transport and infrastructure manager Brad Singh says about 93 per cent of streets in Wellington are captured by the proposal to reduce limits to 30km/h. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Over the same time period, there were 1801 crashes in Lower Hutt, 598 in Upper Hutt and 927 in Porirua.
Singh said arterial roads or “main drags” in the city like Waterloo Quay would remain at 50km/h.
“It is a thoroughfare and people need to use that for the economics of the city to keep ticking along.”
The proposal to reduce speed limits was not so different to the actual speeds people were currently driving, Singh said.
On average people drive 35km/h on arterial routes and 23km/h outside arterial routes, he said.
Environment and Infrastructure Committee chairwoman councillor Tamatha Paul told her colleagues they shouldn’t tie themselves up in knots.
“All we are asking is for consultation to happen.”
Paul said lower speed limits would calm communities.
“Our priority is for people to be safer on their streets, for children to be able to move around their neighbourhoods and communities safely, and to reduce the impact of potential crashes.”
