Leading road safety experts and active transport advocates are joining the call for Auckland Transport to proactively defend its world class and global award-winning Safe Speeds Programme, which is saving lives and resulting in fewer road casualties.

The government’s new Land Transport Rule: Setting of Speed Limits 2024 (“the Speed Rule”) forces councils (as local Road-Controlling Authorities, or RCAs) to make wide-scale reversions to higher speed limits, explicitly targeting those introduced around schools. This will impact over 1500 streets across the city, at an estimated cost of $8.8m.

“It must be mortifying for Auckland Transport’s CEO, Dean Kimpton, to front what may be the world’s largest forced blanket reversal of safe speeds, especially when he knows from all available evidence that this will result in more road casualties on residential streets and in neighbourhoods around schools,” says Karen Hormann, Chair of Bike Auckland.

“In unilaterally forcing these speed rises on communities, the government is ignoring not just the evidence on safety, but also the consistently high level of public support for safer speeds,” says Ms Hormann. “Auckland Transport and Auckland Council will be obliged to carry the can for the outcomes of this blanket dictate from central government – which, whether by accident or by design, disproportionately impacts children. That’s heartbreaking to confront.”

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“As things stand, Auckland Transport is obliged to follow the law, no matter how perverse and reckless the outcome. We are, however, deeply concerned that it is acting with undue speed, failing to proactively defend its world-class road safety programme, and appears to have incorrectly included streets in Freemans Bay, Ponsonby and Manurewa.”

“Auckland Transport’s own evidence confirms that safe speeds are working as intended for neighbourhoods across the region in the many 30km/h zones introduced from 2020 onwards,” says Caroline Perry, Director of Brake, the road safety charity. “Auckland Transport’s website is full of research on the benefits of these safe speeds for individuals and communities. So it is of grave concern that we are not hearing the Board speak up for Aucklanders and their wellbeing and safety at this crucial time.”

“Our work with schools highlighted numerous reasons why many want permanent safe speed areas, from split site schools with students that walk between them for classes, to schools with childcare centres or sports facilities in use at other times, and those with a Walking School Bus or Bike Train that begins more than 300m from the school gate. The ‘variable’ speed limits being proposed restrict safe speeds to a limited time and space when we know that 85 percent of road casualties outside Auckland schools occur outside the proposed variable operating times,” says Ms Perry.

Auckland is badly affected by the wording of the rule, says President of Living Streets Aotearoa, Tim Jones: “The huge list of streets that will be made less safe tells me that our largest city – and in particular our children – are being punished just because Auckland Transport made such a strong case that streets where people live, work and go to school must be safe around the clock. This is globally embarrassing for our country, and for everyone involved in applying the rule at local and central government.”

"The evidence on speed is very clear," Tim Jones says. "Someone on foot is four times more likely to be killed or seriously injured if hit by a car travelling at 50km/h compared to 30km/h. The risk is even greater if you're a child. Safe streets benefit all road users, including people in vehicles, but especially the pedestrians and other vulnerable travellers outside vehicles. A 30km/h speed limit is the difference between life and death.”

Marie Guerreiro, Executive Director of All Aboard Aotearoa, a community advocacy group, notes that Auckland Transport is in a powerful position to champion and defend its award-winning speed management programme to the new Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “We call on Auckland Transport’s board and management, Mayor Wayne Brown and the Auckland councillors who are entrusted with deciding transport outcomes for Auckland's communities to step up with the facts and a commonsense approach, rather than rushing to comply with reversing safe speeds on over 1500 streets at a cost of at least $8.8m.”

“We take some hope from the news that the new Minister of Transport Chris Bishop has already exercised his discretion on behalf of concerned communities beyond Auckland, enabling consultation. The Minister needs to take ownership of his portfolio and allow for community input before any reversion to more dangerous speeds, and Aucklanders should expect no less than to have their voices heard,” says Ms Guerreiro. “Children in particular should never be put in the firing line of legislation that’s inequitable - because NZTA-governed roads can keep safer speeds if there's proof of local support, but local streets can't.”

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