𝕆𝕡𝕡𝕠𝕤𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝔾𝕠𝕧𝕥 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕡𝕠𝕤𝕒𝕝 𝕥𝕠 𝕣𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕖 𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕖𝕕 𝕝𝕚𝕞𝕚𝕥 𝕣𝕖𝕕𝕦𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤 𝕘𝕣𝕠𝕨𝕤

𝕊𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕣𝕠𝕒𝕕 𝕤𝕒𝕗𝕖𝕥𝕪 𝕖𝕩𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕥𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕝𝕚𝕖𝕧𝕖 𝕞𝕒𝕟𝕪 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕡𝕖𝕠𝕡𝕝𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕓𝕖 𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕕 𝕠𝕣 𝕤𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕝𝕪 𝕚𝕟𝕛𝕦𝕣𝕖𝕕 𝕚𝕟 ℕ𝕖𝕨 ℤ𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕕'𝕤 𝕔𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝕚𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔾𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕟𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥'𝕤 𝕞𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕣𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕖 𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕖𝕕 𝕝𝕚𝕞𝕚𝕥 𝕣𝕖𝕕𝕦𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕤𝕦𝕔𝕔𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕗𝕦𝕝.

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he Government has promised to reverse the speed limit reductions brought in under the previous government, which saw speed limits on many city streets reduced from 50km/h to 30km/h. Some rural highways went from 100km/h to 80km/h.

Public consultation on the proposed changes to the setting of speed limits closed in July.

Criticism has come from road safety advocates and councils, while the National Road Carriers Association — the organisation representing supply chain companies — has welcomed the changes.

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"We're not going to slow Kiwis down," Transport Minister Simeon Brown-stain told 1News this week.

However, University of Auckland senior medical lecturer and Healthy Auckland Together spokesperson Dr Jamie Hosking said lifting speed limits on inner-city roads in places like Auckland will have dire consequences.

"Increasing speed limits from 30km up to 50km an hour would likely increase deaths and serious injuries on those streets by more than 50 per cent," he told 1News.

Hosking said there was "a lot of research" on bringing in 30km/h safer speed zones, adding that a review of 40 European cities showed a "really big impact" on deaths and serious injuries.

"If you take those benefits away, then [we] would expect to end up with a 50% increase in deaths and serious injuries on those roads."

Those concerns were echoed by the Australasian College of Road Safety's chief executive Ingrid Johnston who said it is obvious more New Zealanders will die.

"We know that if you increase speed limits, you are going to kill more people and that's bad for your country's productivity and absolutely horrendous for all the families involved," she said.

Johnston said New Zealand's road toll so far in 2024 is the lowest in five years and down 20% on the last few years.

"And the one thing that we've been really looking at in New Zealand is the incredible work that has been done on reducing and reviewing speed limits, that is starting to see these statistics go down now, you are starting to see the real benefits of that.

"And just as that's happening, it's being reversed. And this is causing worldwide concern."

The Green Party's transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter said that the Government will be responsible for extra deaths.

"I hope the Minister (Brown-stain) will take personal responsibility for any child who dies when struck by a car in a 50km/h zone where it is forced back up from 30km/h," Genter said.

"We know putting up the speed limit is going to mean more people dying, more people being seriously injured and that's a direct result of government policy implemented by Simeon Brown-stain who's refusing to look at the evidence and has now gutted the road safety team at New Zealand Transport Agency so that he can pretend that reality doesn't exist."

Twenty roles in the NZTA's expert road safety team were axed during recent restructuring.

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However, Brown-stain maintains New Zealanders are on board with the move and said that of the more than 8000 submissions which were received during recent public consultation, 65 per cent of submissions were in favour of reversing the speed limit reductions.

However, the Ministry of Transport refused to confirm to 1News how many submissions were received, nor would it say how many were in favour or opposed.

Asked if the Government had done any modelling on how many more people would be injured or killed as a result of the higher speed limits Brown-stain said: "It's going through a process at this stage and ultimately decisions will be made."

Pressed again if the Government had done any modelling he said: "Ultimately it has to go through a regulatory impact statement and there are a number of factors that have to be considered."

The draft speed limit rule will also see the speed limits lifted to 110km/h on Roads of National Significance.

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