Auckland Transport called on to defend award-winning Safe Speeds Programme
MEDIA RELEASE
13 March 2025
Leading road safety experts and active transport advocates are joining the call for Auckland Transport to proactively defend its world class and global award-winning Safe Speeds Programme, which is saving lives and resulting in fewer road casualties.
The government’s new Land Transport Rule: Setting of Speed Limits 2024 (“the Speed Rule”) forces councils (as local Road-Controlling Authorities, or RCAs) to make wide-scale reversions to higher speed limits, explicitly targeting those introduced around schools. This will impact over 1500 streets across the city, at an estimated cost of $8.8m.
“It must be mortifying for Auckland Transport’s CEO, Dean Kimpton, to front what may be the world’s largest forced blanket reversal of safe speeds, especially when he knows from all available evidence that this will result in more road casualties on residential streets and in neighbourhoods around schools,” says Karen Hormann, Chair of Bike Auckland.
“In unilaterally forcing these speed rises on communities, the government is ignoring not just the evidence on safety, but also the consistently high level of public support for safer speeds,” says Ms Hormann. “Auckland Transport and Auckland Council will be obliged to carry the can for the outcomes of this blanket dictate from central government – which, whether by accident or by design, disproportionately impacts children. That’s heartbreaking to confront.”
“As things stand, Auckland Transport is obliged to follow the law, no matter how perverse and reckless the outcome. We are, however, deeply concerned that it is acting with undue speed, failing to proactively defend its world-class road safety programme, and appears to have incorrectly included streets in Freemans Bay, Ponsonby and Manurewa.”
“Auckland Transport’s own evidence confirms that safe speeds are working as intended for neighbourhoods across the region in the many 30km/h zones introduced from 2020 onwards,” says Caroline Perry, Director of Brake, the road safety charity. “Auckland Transport’s website is full of research on the benefits of these safe speeds for individuals and communities. So it is of grave concern that we are not hearing the Board speak up for Aucklanders and their wellbeing and safety at this crucial time.”
“Our work with schools highlighted numerous reasons why many want permanent safe speed areas, from split site schools with students that walk between them for classes, to schools with childcare centres or sports facilities in use at other times, and those with a Walking School Bus or Bike Train that begins more than 300m from the school gate. The ‘variable’ speed limits being proposed restrict safe speeds to a limited time and space when we know that 85 percent of road casualties outside Auckland schools occur outside the proposed variable operating times,” says Ms Perry.
Auckland is badly affected by the wording of the rule, says President of Living Streets Aotearoa, Tim Jones: “The huge list of streets that will be made less safe tells me that our largest city – and in particular our children – are being punished just because Auckland Transport made such a strong case that streets where people live, work and go to school must be safe around the clock. This is globally embarrassing for our country, and for everyone involved in applying the rule at local and central government.”
"The evidence on speed is very clear," Tim Jones says. "Someone on foot is four times more likely to be killed or seriously injured if hit by a car travelling at 50km/h compared to 30km/h. The risk is even greater if you're a child. Safe streets benefit all road users, including people in vehicles, but especially the pedestrians and other vulnerable travellers outside vehicles. A 30km/h speed limit is the difference between life and death.”
Marie Guerreiro, Executive Director of All Aboard Aotearoa, a community advocacy group, notes that Auckland Transport is in a powerful position to champion and defend its award-winning speed management programme to the new Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “We call on Auckland Transport’s board and management, Mayor Wayne Brown and the Auckland councillors who are entrusted with deciding transport outcomes for Auckland's communities to step up with the facts and a commonsense approach, rather than rushing to comply with reversing safe speeds on over 1500 streets at a cost of at least $8.8m.”
“We take some hope from the news that the new Minister of Transport Chris Bishop has already exercised his discretion on behalf of concerned communities beyond Auckland, enabling consultation. The Minister needs to take ownership of his portfolio and allow for community input before any reversion to more dangerous speeds, and Aucklanders should expect no less than to have their voices heard,” says Ms Guerreiro. “Children in particular should never be put in the firing line of legislation that’s inequitable - because NZTA-governed roads can keep safer speeds if there's proof of local support, but local streets can't.”
Notes
Auckland Transport’s award winning Safe Speeds programme and Katoa, Ka Ora Auckland Speed Management Plan were developed based on evidence and following the Vision Zero principle that nobody should die or be seriously injured on our roads. Over the first 24 months of implementation, Auckland saw a remarkable 30% reduction in deaths and serious injuries (DSIs) on roads where speed limits were lowered, compared to a 9% increase in DSIs on roads where no changes were made. Moreover, 78 per cent of school leaders in Auckland supported permanent safe speed zones around schools in Auckland Transport’s speed management plan consultation.
The speed rule requires Auckland Transport to reverse speed limits for “specified roads” by 1 May 2025 and to set variable speed limit of 30 km/h outside school gates during “school travel periods”. The evidence from research in Auckland shows that 85 per cent of DSI on streets outside schools occur outside those hours.
Bike Auckland, Brake, Living Streets Aotearoa and All Aboard Aotearoa wrote to Auckland Transport on 5 March in relation to the Land Transport Rule: Setting of Speed Limits 2024 (“the Rule”) and Auckland Transport’s assessment of the roads on which speed limit changes will be reversed.
We represent organisations that have all worked with Auckland Transport and Auckland Council to make our roads safer, and have supported Auckland’s award-winning world-class Safe Speeds Programme which has resulted in fewer deaths and serious injuries.
The purpose of our letter (enclosed) was twofold:
to raise concerns about Auckland Transport’s proposed approach to implementing the Rule, and in particular the incorrect inclusion of roads in Freemans Bay, Ponsonby and Manurewa; and
to seek for Auckland Transport to take a more proactive approach to defending its award-winning Safe Speeds Programme, and the safe speed limits it has implemented since 2020.
Contacts
Chair Karen Hormann, Bike Auckland ph 021 459 256
President Tim Jones, Living Streets Aotearoa ph 027 359 0293
Executive Director Marie Guerreiro, All Aboard Aotearoa ph 022 4586 353
Director Caroline Perry, Brake ph 021 407 953
