Election 2023: National zeroes in on potholes and speed limits

Have you ever visualised National transport spokesman Simeon Brown as a child with a schoolbag on his back, cycling to school?

Probably not, but attendees of a Rotorua public meeting did just that as the Pakuranga MP argued why mandated speed limit rules around schools should be repealed.

Brown visited his former hometown of Rotorua to join the electorate’s MP and National candidate Todd McClay at a public meeting focused on transport.

About 40 people turned up to hear how the party would invest in roading infrastructure and repeal speed limit rules that would reduce the majority of Rotorua’s streets to 30km/h.

McClay said National’s priorities included prioritising roadworks along Te Ngae Rd to four-lane the state highway to the airport. Here, he said, a better system was needed, whether it was a roundabout or traffic lights, as it “gets busier and more dangerous there”.

He said this would open up land around the airport which can be developed for economic advantage.

McClay said local councils had been forced to consult on Government-mandated rules on 30km/h limits around schools.

Local Democracy Reporting previously reported a spokeswoman for former Transport Minister Michael Wood said the Government’s Road to Zero vision had an initial target of reducing deaths and serious injuries on the roads by 40 per cent by 2030.

This would require improvements to all parts of the transport system, including “safer speeds”.

She said the previous approach had not been working, and 378 people died on New Zealand roads last year. This was at a “much higher rate” than comparable countries.

She said the Government had made significant investments in road safety and maintenance. About $6.5 billion was for safety-related benefits.

Councils can determine the area this covers and whether it is variable.

If Rotorua Lakes Council used a one-kilometre radius around schools, 75 per cent of roads would become 30km/h.

McClay challenged meeting attendees to drive home at that speed and said while National wanted children to be safe, it did not believe dropping the limit for 75 per cent of the city would achieve that.

On speed limits, Brown referred to how McClay previously told Local Democracy Reporting a child on a pushbike would be travelling faster than 30km/h.

“I thought that was incredibly accurate.”

Brown spent his primary school years in Rotorua and recalled biking to school: ”I was doing 45[km/h].”

“I was probably going to get demerit points. I didn’t even have a licence. ”

Pakuranga MP and National transport spokesman Simeon Brown (left) and Rotorua MP Todd McClay. Photo / Laura Smith

He said slowing people down was not the answer because the problem came from drivers drunk or on drugs. Speed was also a factor.

National would repeal the speed-limit reduction rule as “soon as humanly possible”, but did support variable speeds near gates and entrances of schools.

Speaking about investment, Brown said when Labour came into Government six years ago, it switched the focus from roads to building light rail in Auckland. National announced in July it would scrap these plans.

Labour also cancelled the Roads of National Significance pipeline set before its time in government, he said.

“The Tauranga northern link would have been built by now.”

Brown said National would invest in “a range of transport choices”, but would “maintain what we’ve got first”.

He said there were 54,000 potholes on state highways that needed fixing.

“Having record numbers is not exactly an achievement, it’s more a sign that the roads in our country are deteriorating and we need to do something about it to get them fixed.”

He referred to the party’s pledge to pour $500 million over three years into a Pothole Repair Fund.

Brown said he drove to Rotorua from Auckland via Tauranga and Te Puke.

“I always say when I get home, ‘I have to see a chiropractor’. The roads are certainly in a pretty awful situation.”

A road should be built for 50 years, he said, and 2 per cent needed to be replaced a year.

“Last year, we replaced 0.5 per cent of our state highways.”

A longer-term plan for roading was needed, he said, such as a 30-year plan looking at where improvements were needed. National had devised a 10-year pipeline of projects.

Brown also said there needed to be greater use of toll roads and value-capture mechanisms to help fund infrastructure.

Laura Smith is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. She previously reported general news for the Otago Daily Times and Southland Express, and has been a journalist for four years.

Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ on Air.