The Government has officially implemented new speed limit rules that will reverse the previous government’s speed limit reductions.
Transport Minister Simeon Brown said that by 1 July 2025, speed limits would be returned to the previous settings.
He said speed limits up to 120km/h on Roads of National Significance may also be introduced.
“The previous government’s approach to road safety led to untargeted speed limit reductions across the country that slowed Kiwis and the economy down. New Zealanders rejected these illogical blanket speed limit reductions,” Brown said.
“Over 65 percent of submitters supported our plan to reverse the previous government’s blanket speed limit reductions in the draft speed limit rule.
“It makes no sense to make a shift worker travelling to work at four o’clock in the morning crawl along our streets at 30km/h. New Zealanders expect a sensible approach to speed limits on our roads, and that’s what we’re delivering.”
Under the National-ACT coalition agreement, the Government is requiring reduced variable speed limits outside schools during pick up and drop off times and enabling speed limits up to 120km/h on expressways.
“We know that Roads of National Significance improve safety and efficiency. That’s why we are giving the green light for new expressways to have speed limits up to 120km/h where it’s safe, from the day they open,” Brown said.
“It is critical that we have the right settings in place to boost economic growth and improve road safety, enabling Kiwis to get to where they want to go, quickly and safely.”
The move to change speed limits has not been welcomed by some.
A group of local and international road safety experts, academics and health professionals have penned an open letter to the Government over the move, saying it will result in lost lives if it proceeds.
The letter, headed by the Global Road Safety Partnership, is addressed to the Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Minister of Transport Simeon Brown.
The letter is co-signed by 46 New Zealanders, and 51 people from overseas, including Australia, the UK, Sweden, Hong Kong and the Netherlands.
The letter warns raising speed limits would lead to more fatalities and severe, life-altering injuries on New Zealand roads, and disputes claims that higher speed limits will yield economic benefits, saying the assertion is flawed and unsupported by credible evidence.
Labour’s transport spokesperson, Tangi Utikere, said the government is ignoring the evidence on safety by raising speed limits, saying the evidence that higher speeds result in more deaths is overwhelming.
“Simeon Brown can kid himself about various aspects of data, but the reality is very straightforward: The slower the vehicles are going when impact occurs, the increased likelihood that someone is going to come out of that in a better condition than if they were going to be speeding,” Utikere said.
There were 223 deaths on New Zealand roads from January to August last year. In the same period this year, there have been 179.
