Broad road safety approach urged

Speed limit changes can not be the only tool used in the battle to reduce deaths and serious injuries on Auckland roads.

Franklin Local Board has provided feedback to a proposed approach to Katoa, Ka Ora - Speed Management Plan for Auckland, calling for different approaches in rural and urban environments and engineering solutions for difficult roads.

Chair Angela Fulljames says the board’s feedback supports an ‘easy to understand’ approach - one that limits the number of changes so drivers can easily understand speed restrictions on the roads they use.

“But what we are saying is that you can’t just rely on dropping speed limits. We must be open to engineering solutions where we are aware of road accident black spots, or where the figures are telling us there are more incidents on sections of road.

“That’s particularly true for some rural roads, where we know from what our own people are telling us, some roads have difficult corners, poor cambers or other factors that could contribute to accidents.”

Fulljames says the board has submitted before around speed limit changes and stands by its view that there are differences between rural and urban environments.

“That needs to be applied to decisions around speed. For example, reducing a speed limit to 30kmh on a city street might make perfect sense, it doesn’t necessarily hold for, as an example, Glenbrook-Waiuku Road at all times during weekdays.”

The board also supported calls from Ngaati te Ata Waiohua to review the speed limit on Karioitahi Beach, which is partly an Auckland Council-controlled road.

It has asked Auckland Transport to progress a long-term vehicle movement strategy to address risks to pedestrian safety, the environment and the area’s heritage values.

Katoa, Ka Ora is a speed management plan for the Auckland region, designed to set safe and appropriate speed limits in order to reduce road deaths and serious injuries.

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