Auckland speed reductions: Decision looms on proposal to cut limits on 700 roads
Tuesday, 15 October 2019
The decision on whether to cut speed limits on 700 roads will be left entirely to the eight directors of Auckland Transport, with staff making the unusual move of offering no advice on how to proceed.
The agency's board will consider an 'extraordinary' level of feedback to the plan, and asked staff not to make recommendations on how to proceed so that it could decide with an 'open mind'.
Ten reports, totalling 623 pages, include three options. Those are to either press on with the proposal, go back to the drawing board, or exclude roads either not classified as high-risk or where there is 'significant preference for the status quo'.
The material shows widespread support for speed reductions on safety grounds, but the plan is opposed in its current form by the Automobile Association (AA).
**READ MORE:
* Speed limit changes: The slower Auckland Transport goes, the bigger the mess
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* Nearly 800 Auckland roads could have speed limits lowered**
NZ Post also fears its business will be hurt by the moves.
'Inappropriate speed' was said to contribute to 20 per cent of the 58 killed and 595 seriously hurt on the roads in 2018.
The plan to lower limits has strong backing from AT's board chairman Lester Levy, whose term ends after next Tuesday's decision.
Slightly more than half of the 700 roads attracted either no public feedback, or views were split evenly on the merits of speed reduction.
In addition, submitters offered views on a further 776 roads that had not been considered high or medium-risk by Auckland Transport.
On 168 roads, there was more opposition than support, and on 160 roads support for speed cuts outweighed opposition.
'While the level of public acceptance is important, it does not provide a basis for not changing speed limits or making roads safe where evidence suggests speed limits are not safe and appropriate,' a report to the board said.
Major organisations involved in road safety, such as the Auckland Regional Public Health Service, the Police and New Zealand Transport Agency, supported the reductions and suggested a small number of additional roads were also high-risk.
When the plan was unveiled late in 2018, National's then-transport spokesman Paul Goldsmith said it was driven by 'anti-car zealotry', while the AA said its members opposed a blanket 30kmh in the CBD.