Act Party hits out at Auckland Transport’s $71m speed limit spend, expert says reductions save lives

Motorists unhappy with speed limit reductions earlier this year flattened almost every road sign between Kerikeri and Ōkaihau. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Act’s Transport spokesman has come out swinging against Auckland Transport (AT) over what he says is “backwards thinking” on speed reduction, however, a leading expert says speed reductions save lives.

MP Simon Court said information released to the party under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) showed 3,143 roads, 39 per cent of the network, will have speeds reduced.

“Auckland Transport is spending $71 million lowering speed limits in Auckland, ratepayers just want them to spend that money fixing potholes.

“We are the first society in modern history to reduce our travel speeds.”

WSP transport technical director Dr Fergus Tate told the Herald reducing speed limits in most cases reduces operating speeds, and this saves lives.

“When you have lower speeds in crashes, you actually end up with less severe outcomes in the crashes themselves so irrespective of what caused the crash in terms of distraction or something like that, lower speeds reduce the severity of the outcome, which means less deaths and serious injuries.

He also pointed to research showing the per cent of crashes in which potholes were believed to have contributed between 2012 and 2021 is only listed at 0.1 per cent.

A spokesperson for AT said even when speed doesn’t cause a crash, it is the single biggest determinant in whether anyone is killed, injured, or walks away unharmed.

“There are individuals, whānau and communities who have experienced loss and devastation due to road trauma. The human cost is incalculable, but the socio-economic burden has been estimated at $5.025 million per fatal crash in Auckland.”

They said last year 59 people died on Auckland roads and the speed limit changes have already made a big difference.

“In areas where speed limits were changed on 30 June 2020, road deaths have almost halved (down by 47 per cent) in the following 18-month period.”

Court said lowering speed limits causes immense frustration for motorists and reduces productivity.

“Rather than look at opportunities to improve the efficiency of the road network, this backwards thinking is slowing the movement of freight and people.”

Although he said Act supported moves to lower the road toll, he claimed that came from better infrastructure.

“Not slowing people down, causing frustration and putting further restrictions on businesses who have quite frankly put up with enough under this Government.”

Tate said data from New Zealand and around the world shows there is a significant reduction in the likelihood of death and serious injury when there is a small change in mean speed.

“There’s been a piece of research recently that suggested that going 10km over the speed limit in an urban area was the same as exceeding the blood alcohol limit.”

Court claimed increases to the level of private sector funding would inject “much-needed discipline into decision-making” while allowing the Government to maintain “prudent levels of public debt.”

“Between 2007 and 2017, more than $300 billion was raised by funds globally to invest in infrastructure. Most of that capital was raised from insurance companies, pension funds, and sovereign wealth funds (including our own New Zealand Super Fund) looking for long-term investments with reasonable returns.

“This is the sort of long-term thinking ratepayers want to see. Act wants a future where we keep moving forward as a society and make advancements over time, the way things are going we’re more likely heading back to the dark ages.”