Auckland will have slower speed limits in the central city and many other areas by August next year.
Yesterday the board of Auckland Transport (AT) adopted a plan to reduce speed limits on 700km – about 10 per cent – of the city's roads. On those roads, 50km/h limits will be reduce to 30km/h and 100km/h to 80km/h.
The plan will go to public consultation in February before returning to the board, which will have to adopt a new bylaw. Allowing time for signage and other measures to be installed, AT chief executive Shane Ellison expects the new speed limits will be in place by August.
Auckland has experienced a dramatic increase in serious crashes in recent years. From 2014 to 2017, the number of people killed rose by 77.8 per cent, while the number of seriously injured was up 72.5 per cent. These figures compare with much lower figures elsewhere: the national averages were 22.9 and 27.6 per cent respectively.
From 2016 to 2017, in just one year, serious speed-related crashes were up 47 per cent.
The Automobile Association (AA) has opposed the AT plan, saying it goes too far. Spokesperson Barney Irvine said his organisation had surveyed its members and "57 per cent oppose or strongly oppose a 30km/h limit in town centres" and they have "similar reservations ... about rural roads".
But Bevan Woodward of the road safety lobby group Movement criticised the AA's approach. He said AA surveys "are not representative because the respondents are self-selecting, hence they are more likely to be opposed".
Woodward said the NZ Transport Agency had "revealed that 87 per cent of our speed limits are unsafe". He supported the plan.
AT officials yesterday reported back to the board with evidence it would work in Auckland.
In Queen St, where the speed limit was reduced from 50km/h to 30km/h in 2008, they compared the 10 years before the reduction with the 10 years after. Crash rates were down 39.8 per cent and serious injuries were down 36 per cent.
On Whitford Rd, between East Tamaki and Clevedon, the 80km/h limit was temporarily reduced to 60km/h in June. There used to be close to 10 crashes a year on that road, several of them fatal. Since June there have been none.
Evidence from London, urban and rural parts of South Australia, Bristol and elsewhere was produced. All told a similar story - lower speeds significantly reduce crashes.
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff told the Herald he was worried about safety on Auckland roads but stopped short of endorsing the Auckland Transport plan.
"The human and economic costs are huge and unacceptable. We have to look at every way we can to bring the crash rate down, including lowering speed limits where evidence supports that."
The 30km/h zone in the city centre would include all roads bounded by the motorways and the waterfront.
Urban centre roads like Broadway in Newmarket and Tamaki Drive at Mission Bay and St Heliers would become 30km/h zones, as would parts of rural roads like the Coatesville-Riverhead Highway, the Hibiscus Coast Highway, Alfriston Rd and Waiuku Rd.
Ellison put the cost of the new plan at $21.6 million, much of which would go on signage. There would also be roadworks to make 49 intersections safer, some work on footpaths and some other work.
Speed isn't the only issue. AT chair Lester Levy said they had been talking with the police about enforcement. "We're got very strong co-operation with the police now," he said.
Ellison added that they had been assured the Auckland road policing unit has been "fully staffed since July. Frankly, it was almost disbanded before then."
Levy said they had met with Barney Irvine to talk through their concerns.
"The arterial roads like Nelson St, Hobson St and Fanshawe St are critical to this whole plan. The average speed on those roads now is only 19 per cent. But the danger is that people speed up before the lights. That makes them high crash areas."
Nelson St, Levy said, has the highest density of any residential area in New Zealand, "and it's in the top 10 per cent for crashes".
Levy and Ellison expect they would roll the programme out to more roads in the future but declined to put a timetable on that.
Will they also be stepping up the programme to make the roads safer in other ways, with footpaths, cycleways, more raised tables, safer intersections and the like?
"Over time we may need to do more," said Ellison.
"We'll take all legitimate steps over time," said Levy.
They'll be calling for public submissions in February.
- NZ Herald