Plan For 40k On Local Roads

 

Wellington City Council will next month consider a proposal to lower the speed limit to 40km/h in all residential streets except arterial routes.

Several residential streets in the city already have speed limits of 40km/h and some areas 30km/h but this proposal would be an extreme change that would have a massive effect on motorists and public transport users.

It is triggering a firestorm of a debate.

40k is coming to Wellington roads?

The AA says evidence rather than ideology must be the basis for deciding whether to reduce Wellington’s residential speed limit from 50km/h.
AA Wellington’s chairman Michael Gross says: “If the intention is to improve safety on the roads, then it must be supported by thorough evidence about where crashes are occurring and understanding if travelling at the current speed limit was a causative factor.”

“We need to know the answers to questions like: how many fatal and serious crashes are happening on 50km/h residential and arterial and commercial streets in Wellington and what impact a reduced speed limit would have had on these crashes?

“The issues of what the impacts would be on commuting travel times and the city’s economy will be hard to estimate and quantify but must also be taken into account.”
It’s going to be a lively and important debate.
If Wellington passes this, it could have impacts in other areas -although it’s worth noting Auckland has already seen similar action introducing 40k on Ponsonby Rd following serious pedestrian injuries.

Ponsonby


I still find Ponsonby Rd a scary place to cross even using the pedestrian refuge outside SPQR.

Tags:

 
 
 

7 Comments

 
  1. kel says:

    I find that going faster on roads makes me alert. Going 30 or 40km is just boring, and i don’t know whether it’s safer or not when people are bored and tired behind the wheel…

  2. Matt says:

    The first bit of rain and the motorway through the Gorge, J’ville and Tawa comes to a halt, usually due to the inevitable accident. I say the 40km/hr limit should be in place on the motorway too. :-)

  3. Anthony says:

    Im a little worried as it might encourage even more jaywalkers in Wellington.

  4. Paul in Sydney says:

    Keep it simple 50, 70, 100

    Aus uses everything from 40-110 and sometimes on a stretch of road the speed limit changes up and down in a very short distance

    The 40k school zones are a good idea, but can be speed traps if you miss them, lots now have cameras, flashing lights and extra road markings, no excuse not see them coming these days

  5. Chris says:

    @Kel - same, I too find myself more alert if I am 10km/h over the speed limit.

  6. KarlHansen says:

    @kel and @Chris - in that case, we should drop the speed limit to 20km/h for you! I mean, have you got no more sensible excuses for speeding (also called breaking the law) than that?

    And if you aren’t alert enough, even in your own mind, you shouldn’t even be on the road. Get some more sleep and a coffee, rather than giving excuses like “I needed to go faster because I was falling asleep, officer!”. Yeah, that will work.

    @Paul - not sure much simpler than a “blanket 40 km/h rule for the whole city” can you get? There wouldn’t be a need for extra signs at all. You could probably remove a lot of them.

  7. Matt T says:

    @Paul 40km/hr in a school zone!! That’s fast. South Australia has 25km/hr.

    The inevitable whinging is on the Dom Post, but most of it boils down to motorists not giving a damn about anyone but themselves.

    If I was running Welly I’d do 50km/hr on arterials, except through the village centres which would be 30km/hr, 30km/hr on all other streets, and 15km/hr through Ped Xings in front of schools. And then I’d get a whole lot of yellow paint and control parking.

    And the motorway I’d make 80km/hr and 60 km/hr if it’s wet. I’d also get rid of all large 4WDs and SUVs, and all cars and motorcycles louder than -75dBA.

    All would be speed camera enforced, and the noise levels directional microphone/camera enforced.

    Anyone who whinges about my scheme becomes a volunteer judder bar.

 

Leave a Comment

 




XHTML: You can use these tags:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>