By Simeon Brown
Happy New Year! 2023 has well and truly started and while the weather hasn’t been that great, I do hope you have been able to start the year refreshed and recharged for all that the year will bring.
Many Kiwis will have spent time on our roads over summer, visiting family and friends, or trying to get to the beach when it hasn’t been raining! What is clear is that the state of our roads is the worst state they have been for a long time, and almost everywhere you go around Auckland and New Zealand, speed limits are being reduced.
Late last year Auckland Transport announced it was slashing the speed limit on over 1600 roads around Auckland, while the Labour Government announced it was proposing to do the same to our state highways around the country. Many of these speed limit changes are being implemented right now.
Here in east Auckland, roads like Pakuranga Road and Ti Rakau Drive are having the speed limit unnecessarily reduced to 50km/h from 60km/h, while Te Irirangi Drive will be reduced from 80km/h to 60km/h.
These changes are being driven by Labour’s new Setting of Speed Limits Rule 2022 which require all Road Controlling Authorities (like Auckland Transport) to set their speed limits in accordance with Government policy – which is simply to slow Kiwis down. Wellington is now effectively dictating to councils around New Zealand what their speed limit should be on all roads under their control.
This is nothing more than a band-aid on a major problem, which does nothing to actually improve the quality of our roads – something many Kiwis are crying out for.
What we need is real investment in our transport network, to fix up our badly-maintained roads and make sure they’re fit for purpose, safety improvements where necessary and upgraded capacity to reduce congestion and keep commuters and freight moving around our country.
Blanket speed limit changes, as opposed to properly-targeted reductions, are a lazy solution that won’t make a meaningful difference, other than to slow Kiwis down and frustrate motorists trying to get around our communities and the country.
If Labour wanted to improve safety and reduce the road toll they wouldn’t have cancelled or delayed dozens of important roading projects in Auckland and around the country that would have upgraded our transport network and made it both safer and more efficient.
Kiwis want better roads, not slower roads, and it’s clear that Labour has no intention of delivering the real improvements that are needed.
- Simeon Brown is MP for Pakuranga and National’s Transport spokesperson
