Police monitoring drivers on SH51 - passing lanes no excuse to speed

Emergency services are hoping scenes like this, and worse, are a thing of the past with the lowering of speed limits on State Highway 51 south of Napier. Photo / NZME

Police expect to be taking the softly-softly approach with new lower speed limits which have been put in place on the Clive route between Napier and Hastings.

The limits on State Highway 51, formerly State Highway 2 – most prominently the seafront highway south of Napier to Clive – were announced by national highways manager Waka Kotahi NZTA and took effect with signage put in place on Thursday night.

Speeds are now restricted to 80km/h, down from the long-standing limit of 100km/h.
Napier City Council speed limit bylaw changes lowering some limits in the city and its rural outskirts come into effect on Tuesday.

Eastern Police District road policing manager Matt Broderick said police are aware the former limit had been the same for many years and some motorists might take time to be accustomed to the change.

Some leniency would be shown in the early days with speeds marginally over the new 80km/h limit, but the same couldn't be said for motorists treading the pedal over the old limit and into the three-digit speeds.

Police will be monitoring speeds "closely", with some extra attention to passing bays in the zone.

"They're not speed zones," he said. "They're for slower vehicles to move over and let other traffic past, but they're not for the other vehicles to speed up over the limit to get past."

He said that while the rate of fatalities on Hawke's Bay roads had dropped in recent
months, there was little change in the number of serious injuries, meaning there is still "work to do" in getting motorists to drive to the conditions and slow down.

Some of the monitoring of speeds between Napier and Hastings relates to other possible safety improvements in the future.

The changes took into account the crash rate, which included three separate fatal incidents in the 3km between the SH51 intersections with Ellison St and Awatoto Rd in 20 months up to mid-May last year, the lower-than-normal mean speed of motorists well below the 100km/h limit, and public consultation.

Meanwhile, the Napier council on Thursday voted to start consultation on more changes which emanated from concerns raised in consultation leading to the changes which start on Monday.

In addition, the council proposes changes on Willowbank Ave (100km/h to 80km/h), and school zones in Battery Rd and Guppy Rd (both 50km/h to 30km/h), and Hill Rd (80km/h to 40km/h).