Editorial: Do we need to go any faster?

Tracey Chatterton.

The open road speed limit is back in the spotlight.

Last week the Ministry of Transport released the results to its annual Public Attitudes to Road Safety Survey. Each year it asks people their opinion on the 100km/h speed limit. Do we want it raised, lowered, or left unchanged?

This time 25 per cent of respondents said the limit should be higher - more than the 18 per cent last year who wanted it raised.

Newstalk ZB and Seven Sharp host Mike Hosking said it was "good news" that more people wanted a higher limit. But is it?

Why do we need to be going any faster than 100km/h?

I don't think arriving home from work five minutes earlier will really enhance our quality of life.

And what happens when things go wrong? The mess is messier.

We all know the faster you go the bigger the impact.

Hosking may relish the idea of driving his Lamborghini 5km/h faster along the Auckland motorway. But I don't like the idea of passing cars and trucks at 110km/h on our winding rural roads.

People make mistakes no matter how good we think we are at driving.

As Eastern District road policing manager Matt Broderick said this week, "It's speed that determines the outcome of crashes".

While Hosking may have a point that it is the people who make dumb decisions, not the speed they're travelling at, who are killing others or themselves on our roads.

But none of us is perfect. One day it could be us making a dumb decision -- and we stand a better chance of surviving if we're travelling at a sensible speed.