SOS – Save our streets!
This is a Guest Post by Transport Planner Bevan Woodward from the charitable trust Movement, which has lodged an application for a judicial review of the Governments Setting of Speed Limits Rule 2024
Auckland is at grave risk of having its safer speed limits on approx. 1,500 local streets automatically reversed by the Government’s deadline of 1 July 2025. Under the new Setting of Speed Limits Rule 2024, Central Government is requiring Auckland to reverse limits reduced after 2020.
I’ll share with you Movement’s perspective on why the Government is doing this, how they’re going about it and what we are doing in response.
The Government saw this is a vote-winning exercise. Whilst they claim it will grow the economy, they’re really appealing to voters who like to drive fast. The Government claims they are “reversing Labour’s blanket speed reductions”, but the reality is there were no blanket speed reductions nor were they Labour’s. The safer speed limits were implemented by local councils and NZTA who carried out safety assessments and undertook public consultation. Many communities had campaigning for years to have safer speed limits.
The former Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, moved quickly to issue his new Setting of Speed Limits 2024 rule. This not only required safer speed limits since 2020 to be reversed by 1 July 2025 without any safety assessment of the consequences but restricts the ability of roading authorities to set safer speed limits in the future.
For example, by default interregional rural roads must be 100km/h and urban streets 50km/h. Urban street speed limits can be reduced to 40km/h - but not 30km/h which is considered best practice internationally.
[caption id="attachment_70132" align="aligncenter" width="398"]
Death and injury risk percentages at different speeds. Source: Auckland Transport[/caption]
However to justify any speed limit reduction, an economic cost-benefit analysis is required. The predicted reduction in deaths and serious injuries is monetised and must outweigh the increased travel time cost for motorists. Such an approach of prioritising financial gain over safety is completely rejected by Workplace Health & Safety legislation but for some reason the Government thinks it is a good idea for setting speed limits.
So what can we do about it?
Movement has lodged a judicial review of the Minister’s decision to authorise his Setting of Speed Limits 2024 rule. We have asked the High Court to issue an interim order to freeze the reversal of safer speed limits, this will be heard on 9 April. We hope to get an injunction to stop the speed limit reversals across Auckland and the rest of the country.
This would stay in place our judicial review is heard and determined.
If you’d like to learn more or support our legal action with a donation (tax deductible), please head to www.movement.org.nz
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