Slow zones coming to city roads

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

Motorists slipping through residential streets to avoid main-road traffic jams will have to ease off the pedal as local authorities grasp new powers to lower speed limits.

As Auckland Mayor John Banks wants to "put our foot down on the accelerator" to build more motorways, speed limits in his and other cities may drop as low as 30km/h from 50km/h in some residential streets or outside schools.

Temporary low-speed zones are already in place outside at least nine Christchurch schools, and Wellington City Council is proposing permanent 40km/h limits in most of its residential streets - starting with Ngaio, Khandallah and Tawa.

This will follow the introduction next month of a speed limit rule whereby local councils take over decision-making powers from the Land Transport Safety Authority (LTSA), although they will have to weigh up criteria such as the number and type of road users.

Auckland City traffic planners are working on a comprehensive strategy that may even see limits drop as low as 30km/h in some streets, although they promise extensive consultation.

The new powers have also been welcomed in Waitakere, which suffers from a "petrol-head" reputation. Senior councillor Penny Hulse last night claimed a desperate need to lower limits outside schools and on the city's busy but windy rural roads.

She said this was highlighted by the death of a motorist who crashed at the weekend outside her home in Swanson Rd, where her council had in the past succeeded only in persuading the LTSA to make a modest reduction, from 100km/h to 80km/h.

Auckland City traffic safety manager Karen Hay said limits could be lowered only in streets where there were "calming" measures such as speed bumps or obstacles called chicanes set in the middle of the road.

"They need the infrastructure and education to support them - I can't just go and put up 40km/h signs everywhere," she said.

Ms Hay said her staff would consider recommending to councillors limits of 40km/h or even 30km/h in some residential streets, particularly near schools, but she did not expect any reductions along arterial routes.

She hoped to have a proposal ready in two or three months.

She said seven pedestrians were killed and 50 were seriously injured on Auckland City streets in 2002, with 53 pedestrians killed nationally in the 12 months to this January. Vulnerable road users certainly needed more protection.

"We will consider separating the whole residential environment from arterial roads."

The new powers also allow councils to raise 50km/h limits to 60, 70, 80 or 100km/h and drop them as low as 20km/h, but the latter is considered unlikely outside parking precincts.

Ms Hay said the only Auckland road for which planners might consider raising the limit was Neilson St in the Onehunga industrial zone.

City speed limits

* Auckland: May drop to 30km/h in some areas, such as outside schools.

* Wellington: Permanent 40km/h limits in most residential streets.

* Christchurch: Already has temporary low-speed zones outside nine schools.