Simeon Brown: Transport Minister on the Government reversing blanket speed limit reductions

Speed limits around schools will become varied if proposed rule changes go ahead.

The coalition Government is reversing speed limit reductions implemented over the past four years under the previous Government.

Public input is open as the draft rule enters the consultation phase.

Transport Minister Simeon Brown says slower school speeds will only apply at pick-up and drop-off times.

"Rather than being all around the clock, which is how it's currently done at the moment, where you're seeing 30km being put in suburbs across our cities." 

Simeon Brown says most people don't follow the current laws anyway.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Eether Do for cl government has announced it's going to
be reversing the speed limit reductions that the last government
put in place. So speed limits around schools will be
thirty k's in urban areas, they'll be sixty k's in
rural areas. They'll be variable. New and existing roads of
national significance could have a speed limit of one hundred
and ten k's per hour if they've been built to
high safety standards, and one hundred and twenty k's per

(00:20):
hower is an option as well, Sime and Brown as
the transportman is down with us now, hey samen good evening,
where would we see one hundred and twenty k road?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Well, this is a proposal to say, well, actually, when
we're building these new roads of national significance, should we
be building them to a standard of one hundred and
twenty Currently we've been building them to one hundred and ten.
But actually we were on Dart, New Zealanders, whether one
hundred and twenty would be an option that they consider
should for those roads to help improve the efficiency of
our transport network to help people get where they need

(00:50):
to go quickly and safely.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
I mean, obviously we're going to say yes what do
you need to do to make it to make it
safe enough for one twenty K's.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Well, well, basically, the rules around the safety would be
the width of the lanes, the barriers that would be
put in place, the amount of space on the booms.
Those are the type of things the agency takes into account.
We're also making it clear though, that when a road
is built to that sort of standard, we actually expect
the speed limit to be in place from when the

(01:19):
road opens, not because of the bureaucratic way the current
rule works. It has to go through a very long
and arduous process to actually be checked to make sure
it is our viewers. If it's built to that standard,
it should be had that speed limit from the day
it's opened, not a couple of years later.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yeah. Cool. If we're frustrated by any of the speed
limits that have been imposed on us in the last government,
can we assume that they will automatically go back to
where they were.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
So what we're doing is we're basically having a reversal
in terms of all of those local roads, all of
those those arterial roads are all going to be reversed back.
All those state highways, they are going to be reversed
back to what they were. We will be making sure
that in terms of speed limits around SCO though, where
there is drew peck up and drop off times, it

(02:05):
will be a slower speed limit.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
Because it actually variable though.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
It will have to be variable only, so it'll be
a slower speed limit between I think eight o'clock and
nine to thirty in the morning and between two thirty
and four in the afternoon, rather than being all around
the clock, which is how it's currently done at the moment,
where you're seeing thirty kilometers prow being put in suburbs
across our cities, and you know, you try to home

(02:30):
at ten o'clock at night and it's still thirty kilometers
prayer and by the way, no one's actually following those rules,
and you know what you end up having, and I've
witnessed it myself, is even and the buses are going
over thirty k's per hour because they're trying to keep
up to their schedules. So the reality is we've got
to take a common sense approach to this rather than
a blanket approach just to simply slow people down, which

(02:51):
is how the last government is doing. Enough.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
I mean, I can't even hide my excitement. Thank you
so much, Simmy and Brown, Transport Minister. For more from
Hither Duplassy, Allen Drive Live to news talks.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
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