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Kiri Goodspeed spoke on behalf of
the Te Pohue community, outlining the reasons for the community’s
opposition to the speed limit reduction, highlighting:
·
A petition opposing the 17 December Waka
Kotahi decision to reduce the speed limit is circulating and will now close
18 February 2022
·
Unanimous agreement at a 15 January 2022 community
meeting in Te Pohue mandated Kiri Goodspeed to advocate and make complaint against
the decision on behalf of the community
·
Social and economic impacts of the decision
will affect all residents, first respondents to horrific accidents, who fear
the speed reduction will increase the number of accidents due to driver
frustration
·
A 26 January 2021 poll of 2752 respondents conducted
on Axel Alexander’s State Highway 5 Issues Facebook page result was 96%
opposed to the speed limit reduction
·
Te Pohue community is calling for an
injunction to halt the speed limit reduction
·
Advocating for increased funding to overcome
consistent underinvestment in SH5 road maintenance
·
In 2020 there was a $4 million dollar spend on
safety signage and features at trouble spots
Linda
Stewart, Waka Kotahi Central Region - Regional Relationships Director, outlined
the rationale for the Waka Kotahi decision and the process undertaken to
arrive at it, highlighting:
·
The purpose of the change is to save lives and
prevent serious injuries; Waka Kotahi’s number one concern is safety
and did not consider, in making this decision, economic impacts other than
the social costs of death and serious injury.
·
Combined with ‘stay alive on SH5’,
road policing and road maintenance, the reduced speed limit will give
travellers on the road the very best chance of arriving safely at their destination;
safety is Waka Kotahi’s number one priority; safety must be put before
travel time.
·
Strategy for SH5 – working towards new
80km speed limit complemented by:
o
Short term 2021-24 RLTP – proposed $24M
safety improvements and SH5 corridor Programme Business Case (PBC) long term
strategy (pending funding)
o
Medium term next 3 national Land Transport
Plan periods – HB boundary to Taupō $100M and Taupō to HB
Boundary $17M
o
Long term – outcomes of the PBC will
inform the longer term for SH5
·
Speed is the major determinant of crash outcomes
including fatalities and serious injuries. The Speed Assessment that Waka
Kotahi used identified 80 km/hr as the safe and appropriate speed for SH5
– to reduce death and serious injury by 65%. A 90 km/hr speed
limit would only reduce death and injury by 10%.
·
Government’s Vision Zero and allied Road
to Zero strategies have three aspects – infrastructure changes, speed
limit reductions and increased enforcement
·
Need to change road behaviours starting with
speed; interventions are not popular
·
15 sections of SH5 covering approximately 80
km were assessed. A speed reduction was deemed appropriate for all sections
·
Consultation with Iwi was not well managed and
Waka Kotahi could have done better, admittedly; Consultation is not a vote on
the matter
·
Speed reduction to 80km/hr is permanent
· A business case for the long term future of SH5 is being developed.
Deferring / delaying a speed decision until it is completed would see more
deaths on the highway
·
Recent ‘Stay Alive on 5’ campaign has
resulted in no deaths on the highway over the past 12 months. Waka Kotahi
acknowledges this but see enforcement (the campaign) as only one component of
road safety.
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