Take your foot off the gas - new speed limits in place on busy highway

Thursday, 17 December 2020

Controversial new speed limits between Nelson and Blenheim are now in place, with a senior police officer saying drivers will enjoy a much safer journey.

The 100 kilometre per hour speed limits on SH6 were replaced by limits ranging from 60kmh to 90kmh from Friday.

The changes were introduced by Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency to increase safety on the high-risk corridor which thousands of trucks, commuters and travellers use every day.

Tasman police district acting road policing manager Senior Sergeant Grant Andrews​ said the new speed limits would make travel “a lot safer”.

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Andrews said lowering the speed limit meant there was also a greater chance of surviving a serious crash.

Two vehicles crashing at 100kmh was the equivalent of a serious crash, but reducing the speed by just 20kmh provided “significant reduction to injuries” and gave drivers time to negotiate what was happening on the road.

A stretch of the busy SH60 that linked Nelson and Motueka had its 100kmh speed limits reduced to 80kmh two years ago and Andrews said it had been an “absolute positive” with a reduction of injuries and fatalities.

Waka Kotahi reported between 2009 and 2018, 20 people were killed and 92 were seriously injured on SH6 between Blenheim and Nelson.

Of these, 19 of the deaths and 87 of the serious injuries were in areas with a 100kmh speed limit.

A further five people died in crashes on the highway in 2019 and 2020 and all deaths occurred on 100kmh sections.

In the last few months, there had been three fatal car crashes, Andrews said.

There was always going to be people against the change “but the long term effect is it’s going to be safer for everyone to drive; pedestrians, cyclists … around our schools – it’s a big picture change for a lot of people”.

A petition against the speed reductions gained more than 28,000 signatures.

In 2017 road works were completed on the Rai Saddle stretch of SH6, reducing a series of five curves to four, which were also to improve the safety of the highway.

Road traffic enforcement would “remain the same” on SH6, Andrews said, but over summer there would be increased road police presence on all the country’s highways.

He said the reduced limits wouldn’t have a huge effect on the travel time of the entire distance and drivers wouldn't take long to adjust to the new speeds.

Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency (Waka Kotahi) director regional relationships Jim Harland said the changes would make SH6 safer for everyone who used it along with improving safety for the many schools and communities on the highway.

“These safer speed limits will not only make our roads easier to access at key locations, the key point is that they will reduce the number of serious injuries and deaths on SH6.

“It will mean more people safely reaching their destinations, fewer people suffering serious injuries from crashes, and fewer families grieving for lost loved ones.”

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