Waka Kotahi’s announced speed limit decreases have been hotly debated as Kiwis put forward ideas on how to best lower the road toll.
The announcement comes after Aotearoa’s road toll hit 321 yesterday - higher than 2021 and 2020's 318.
The proposed changes will see 500km of state highway in 440 locations have their speed limits reduced - around 4% of the country’s state highway network will see the changes.
It said changes were proposed outside 269 schools and 11 marae.
While Waka Kotahi sees the changes as “safe and appropriate”, some do not share their mindset.
Road safety campaigner Clive Matthew-Wilson told Breakfast that the best way to lower the road toll is to improve our road infrastructure.
He used the example of how the installation of median barriers significantly reduced road deaths after the 1970s.
“From the 1980s onwards which is when we started installing median barriers on roads and getting cars with airbags - per head of population it’s been going very gradually down,” he said
He said that the majority of fatal crashes are caused by reckless and distracted drivers who won’t follow the speed limits either way. He suggested tougher enforcement of road rules.
“Distraction is a major cause of accidents, what are the police doing about it? Giving people speeding tickets," he said.
“They should seize cars where people are not following the rules for a week and very quickly people will stop doing it,” Clark-Matthewson said.
Breakfast also spoke to Caroline Perry, the director of Break, a charity working to reduce road deaths - she supports the changes and sees it as one of the many tools to reduce the road toll.
She acknowledged that while we are trending downwards the goal was to reach zero.
“We have been trending down over the last few decades but from our point of view… 320 people is still 320 too many,” she said.
“We have to look at all of the things that we need to do to bring that number of deaths and serious injuries down to zero."
She said that reducing speed limits was key to reaching the goal of zero.
“Median barrier infrastructure is a really important part of that but safer speed limits are also a key part," she said.
“Bringing those in particularly to around schools and maere is really important in protecting young people and groups of people who are congregating - particularly walking and cycling,” she said.
Deputy PM offers his take
Deputy prime Minister Grant Robertson also spoke to Breakfast and said the Government has invested significant funds in road infrastructure, believing reducing speed was another tool available for use.
The deputy PM sees them as one of the many ways the country can reach zero road deaths.
“We all agree that this is not the only thing that we should be doing - we’re putting a record amount of money into road safety and making sure that we do fix our roads,” he said.
“There's about $7 billion going into actually fixing the roads. Of course, we gotta focus on things like median barriers and we’ve put a huge number of them in around the country but speed is a factor.
“It’s all part of a package.”
He also highlighted that when it came to enforcement of the rules the police are doing all they can to stop things like phone use while driving.
“In the end, the police make those decisions about where they chose to intervene with the resources that they’ve got,” he said.
But Robertson also said that it was up to road users to show personal responsibility for themselves and those they are passengers with.
“It’s something that everybody needs to be able to tell. They can tell their mates don’t do that, it’s dangerous we need to protect each other here,” he said.
If confirmed the changes will be implemented next year.
During the current three-year National Land Transport Programme funding period, from 2021-2024, $2.9 billion is being invested in Road to Zero - a campaign launched in 2019 with "a vision of zero deaths and serious injuries on New Zealand roads".
Under Road to Zero, all road controlling agencies are being asked to take a look at speed management.
SHARE ME