More people will die and be seriously injured on our roads under the government’s proposals to increase speed limits, says public health group Healthy Auckland Together.

The government has released the draft Land Transport Rule – Setting of Speed Limits 2024, on 13 June, which would force councils to raise many urban 30 km/h speed limits to 50 km/h, and would remove permanent low speed zones around schools.

Healthy Auckland Together, a coalition of groups advocating for safe and healthy environments, opposes these unsafe increases in urban speed limits.

“This proposal is a big step backwards,” says Dr Jamie Hosking, public health researcher at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland and member of the Healthy Auckland Together (HAT) transport network.

“Around the world, more and more cities are introducing 30 km/h zones, because they’re safer and make cities better places to live.”

In Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, safer speed limits introduced to date have reduced road crash deaths by 30 percent, at a time when the rest of the roads in Tāmaki Makaurau have seen a nine percent increase in deaths.

The government’s proposal would also reverse permanent safe-speed zones around schools, replacing them with variable limits operating only at the start and end of the school day. But permanent safe speed zones are much more effective at preventing deaths and injuries, are cheaper to implement, and were supported by 78 percent of school leaders in Tāmaki Makaurau’s recent speed management plan consultation, according to a HAT OIA request.

Eighty percent of people in New Zealand cities think we should invest to make sure all children can cycle to school safely.

“Permanent safe school speed zones save more lives,” says Dr Hosking. “We need more of these zones, not less, and the government should not be taking them away.”

In cities like Tāmaki Makaurau, safe speed limits have already been subject to extensive community consultation.

“The safe speed zones we have in Tāmaki Makaurau are not only saving lives,” says Dr Hosking. “They are also there because communities want them. We think government should listen to our communities.”

Safe traffic speeds are also crucial for enabling people to walk and cycle. Concerns about safety are already one of the leading barriers to walking and cycling.

“If people don’t feel safe walking and cycling, they will get in a car instead,” says Dr Hosking. “That increases carbon emissions and air pollution, and stops people getting healthy physical activity, as well as putting even more traffic on to our streets.”

The evidence on speed limits:

• Every week in Tāmaki Makaurau 12 people die or have a serious injury on our roads (HAT analysis of Waka Kotahi Crash Analysis data, 2023)
• Active transport users (e.g. cyclists and walkers) account for 36 percent of deaths and serious injuries due to crashes (AT Equity and Road Harm Report 2022)
• Children account for six percent of death and serious injuries due to crashes (Auckland Transport analysis of Waka Kotahi Crash Analysis System, 2022)
• 80 percent of people in New Zealand cities think we should invest to make sure all children can cycle to school safely (NZTA: Urban Cycling Attitudes, 2016)
• 85 percent of deaths and serious injuries outside of schools occur when variable limits are not operating (Auckland Transport, 2022)

Further information is available from the Healthy Auckland Together Position Statement on Safe Speeds

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