The Government’s move to disregard all evidence and increase speed limits will result in serious harm.

“The science is conclusive and the evidence is overwhelming: safe speeds save lives,” says the Green Party’s Transport spokesperson, Julie Anne Genter.

“Our kids should be free to walk and cycle to school without worry. Our streets should enable everyone to access their communities safely and sustainably.

“But 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.

“Local councils, health professionals and road safety experts from here and around the world have spoken out opposing this senseless policy, outlining the serious harm it will cause.

“In Auckland, safer speeds were shown to increase trip times by less than 20 seconds on the average 20-minute car journey, but massively reduced deaths and serious injuries. Is 20 seconds worth the risk of a loved one being lost?

“The reality is that people won’t notice getting to their destination seconds earlier, but will notice a family member not making it home.

“Simeon Brown is dangerously uninformed, and is going against public opinion, expert advice, and even the coalition agreement to reverse speed limit reductions ‘where it safe to do so’.

“People did not vote for this. National’s election policy promised it would not return higher speeds ‘where it would be unsafe to do so’, yet in Government they are doing the exact opposite despite the warnings of experts and councils.

“We are dealing with people’s lives here. Failing to follow the evidence and ignoring basic physics will have real-world consequences,” says Julie Anne Genter.

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