Government to reverse ‘blanket’ speed limit reductions

Simeon Brown, Minister of Transport, has today announced that the Government is amending transport rules in a bid to reverse “blanket” speed limit reductions.

National’s changes to the Land Transport Rule this week counter those made by the previous Labour Government which saw speed limits fall from 100km/h to 80km/h on State Highways across New Zealand, and from 50km/h to 30km/h in main centres.

“Speed limits have been reduced using a blanket approach across many parts of the country under the previous government’s Land Transport Rule, ignoring economic impacts and the views of road users and local communities,” Brown said.

“Our coalition Government wants to see a transport system that boosts productivity and economic growth and allows New Zealanders to get to where they want to go, faster and safer.”

In detail, the changes remove mandatory requirements dictated to Road Controlling Authorities to implement speed management plans and remove deadlines for local Road Controlling Authorities to submit said plans by the end of March next year.

Work will now begin on a new Land Transport Rule to ensure that future speed limits do not have any negative economic impacts, such as increasing travel times.

The new Rule will also see the implementation of variable speed limits on roads approaching schools during pick-up and drop-off times instead of permanent reductions.