New Minister of Transport Chris Bishop is taking notice of community anger about planned speed limit increases – anger which is now showing up in Auckland and is becoming the subject of satire.
But you can act right now to make the case for safer speed limits. You can say you don’t want the speed limit raised on specified stretches of state highway in these regions:
- Te Tai Tokerau – Northland
- Tāmaki Makaurau – Auckland
- Waikato
- Te Moana a Toi-te-Huatahi – Bay of Plenty
- Tāirawhiti - Gisborne
- Te Matau-a-Māui – Hawke’s Bay
- Taranaki
- Manawatū – Whanganui
- Top of the South Island
- Waitaha - Canterbury
- Southland
The feedback form for each road can be found by following the link for that region.
For each stretch of road, you’ll be asked the following questions:
- How often do you use the road
- What your relationship is with the road (e.g. do you live locally)
- What your view is on retaining the current speed limit, versus increasing it
- The reasons for your view
Many of these roads are in rural or semi-rural areas, so your reasons for supporting the reduced speed will need to be appropriate to the specific road. As a prompt for some possible reasons, here are reasons one of our members used for opposing speed limit increases on several roads in the lower North Island:
- very busy road
- no separation of traffic travelling in opposite directions
- limited or no roadside barriers
- narrow road for the speed
- feels safer at 80 than 100
- use as recreational or sports cyclist route
- narrow bridge
- busy intersection with poor safety history
- increasing residential development
- recent fatalities
- prone to sunstrike
- roadside presence of children
- stunning view or other distractor
Safer speeds save lives. Please take this opportunity to tell NZTA why you want safer speeds on roads near you.
You can do more than submit
If you’re looking for other actions to take, you can:
1. Write to your local paper in support of these speed reductions, explaining why safe speeds matter
2. Contact your local MP and make sure they know this matters to you and your family
3. Urge your local Council to stand up for speed reductions in your area.
4. Organise with others in your local area who support speed reductions.