No 'exact timing' for SH6 speed limit decision as proposal 'complicated'

Thursday, 6 August 2020

NZTA proposes to lower the speed limit on much of SH6 to 80kmh, from 100kmh.

A decision on whether to drop the speed limit on a major top of the south highway has no “exact timing” nine months after public consultation on the proposal wrapped.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) announced plans to review the 100kmh speed limits on State Highway 6, between Blenheim and Nelson, in October last year, saying a decision would come “in the following months”.

It suggested dropping the 100kmh zones down to 80kmh, which was met with widespread backlash.

NZTA director of regional relationships Jim Harland said on Thursday they were still working on completing the “numerous” processes, and had not yet made any decisions.

* SH6 Nelson to Blenheim speed reduction decision next year

SH6 is a major trade route between Blenheim and Nelson, used a lot by logging companies and truckies.

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A map of the NZTA's proposed speed reduction areas along SH6 from Blenheim to Nelson.

“At this stage we cannot determine the exact timing for when we will announce the outcome of this speed review,” he said.

A NZTA spokesperson explained changing speed limits was a legal process, and could be “complicated and challenging”.

“We needed to carefully consider the information that we received through the submissions from the formal consultation and also further analyse our technical safety data in order to provide the best outcome for this speed review.”

NZTA reported that between 2009 and 2018 there had been a total of 19 deaths and 87 serious injuries on 100kmh zones on SH6 between Blenheim and Nelson.

The agency opened the review to public consultation from mid-October until November 12 last year.

The proposal provoked heated discussion about whether lowering the speed limit was the best way to reduce deaths with many people saying it would have the opposite effect by creating impatience.

In November last year, the Road Transport Association NZ (RTNZ), NZ Trucking Association and the NZ Automobile Association (AA) met with NZTA to express their concerns regarding the new speed limit proposal.

Road Transport Association area executive John Bond said it was normal for NZTA to take some time to make a decision on such a proposal, in part due to the large number of submissions they must have received.

“Personally, I think the way they [NZTA] have handled this is actually correct.”

Bond said he was eagerly awaiting the results because the association did not want the speed limit to be lowered on SH6.

“We totally oppose the blanket 80kmh … from our perspective it’s just not the correct thing to do, and we have put in a proposal [against it],” he said.

New Zealand Automobile Association (AA) motoring affairs general manager Mike Noon said he didn’t understand why it was taking so long for NZTA to produce the results of the review and what their plans were for SH6.

Since it had taken so long “we don’t [even] know whether the original proposal is going to be what’s put forward” or any of the questions posed by the community would even be considered, he said.

The AA had hoped to hear either way early this year, he said.