Welcoming the delivery from tonight of increased speed limits – an ACT coalition commitment – ACT Leader David Seymour says:

“Sensible speed limits are a triumph for common sense and democracy. Instead of being dictated to by a faceless bureaucratic minority, the people are in charge again.

“People often asked me where blanket speed limit reductions came from. Who asked for this, whose idea was it, why don’t my views count? The previous Government’s traffic engineering was thinly disguised social engineering that just made people mad.

“The government’s job is to make life easier, if a road is safe to drive 100, 110, or 120 km/h, people should be allowed to drive that fast. It sounds simple, and it is, but the last Government’s ideological anti-car project made life harder than it needed to be.

“The last government had an anti-car, anti-speed ideology. They didn’t care if they made life less convenient for the vast majority who drive to get around, in fact they seemed to relish slowing people down.

“Driving is important for New Zealanders. It liberates us from our homes and opens up the country for ordinary people to explore and do business. If we want productivity, we should be able to use roads we’ve paid for to their maximum safe capacity."