Transport Minister Simeon Brown has officially signed the Land Transport Rule: Setting of Speed Limits 2024, which will reverse several speed limit reductions implemented by the previous government. This move has ignited a significant debate, particularly among road safety experts who are voicing concerns about the potential increase in road fatalities.
A group of both local and international road safety experts, along with academics and health professionals, recently penned an open letter warning the Government that reversing these speed limit reductions could have dire consequences. "More people will be killed or seriously injured," they cautioned.
As part of the new rule, speed limits on local streets, arterial roads, and state highways that were reduced since January 1, 2020, will be restored to their pre-2020 levels by July 1, 2025. Additionally, schools will be required to adopt reduced variable speed limits during pick-up and drop-off times, with full compliance expected by July 1, 2026 — one year earlier than initially planned.
Under the rule, local streets outside schools will be required to have a 30km/h variable speed limit, while rural school zones will have a maximum limit of 60km/h or less. Minister Brown also indicated that speed limits could be increased up to 120km/h on Roads of National Significance, but only where it is deemed safe to do so.
"The previous government's approach to road safety led to untargeted speed limit reductions across the country that slowed Kiwis and the economy down. New Zealanders rejected these illogical blanket speed limit reductions," Brown stated. He further added that over 65% of public submissions supported the plan to reverse the blanket reductions.
Brown compared New Zealand’s situation with other countries, citing that "throughout the world, 50km/h is used as the right speed limit to keep urban roads flowing smoothly and safely. The evidence on this is clear — comparable countries with the lowest rates of road deaths and serious injuries, such as Norway, Denmark, and Japan, have speed limits of 50km/h on their urban roads."
The Transport Minister reassured the public that road safety remains a key priority, with a clear focus on addressing high-risk times, behaviours, and locations. He also emphasised the importance of targeting alcohol and drug-related driving offences, which are major contributing factors to road fatalities. "That's why we have increased alcohol breath testing targets and introduced legislation to roll out roadside drug testing to crack down on this reckless behaviour," Brown added.
However, not everyone is on board with the changes. The Green Party has expressed strong opposition to the Government’s decision, warning of serious harm. "The science is conclusive and the evidence is overwhelming: safe speeds save lives," said Julie Anne Genter, the party’s transport spokesperson.
Genter went on to criticise the rule, claiming that the Government is "trying to force councils and communities to adopt unsafe speeds on dangerous rural roads, in areas with lots of pedestrians, and around schools for most of the day."
As the rule is set to come into force on October 30, the debate over speed limits and road safety in New Zealand shows no signs of slowing down.