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Re-think On Speed Limits Welcomed
Road freight peak body Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand has welcomed the coalition Government’s decision to reverse blanket speed limit reductions put in place in the last four years.
Transporting New Zealand Interim CEO Dom Kalasih says a one-size fits all approach to speed limits makes no sense. And even though speed limit changes won’t directly affect trucks, which are limited to 90kph maximum throughout New Zealand, more free-moving traffic will benefit all road users.
He says Transporting New Zealand still supports lower speed limits in areas of high crash histories, and maintaining variable speed limits outside schools during pick up and drop off times.
"But where roads are built to a high standard, such as Transmission Gully in Wellington and the Waikato Expressway, 110 kph for cars seems absolutely sensible."
Mr Kalasih says there’s no great interest within the freight industry to lift the maximum speed for heavy trucks.
"One reason is the safety factor for our drivers and other road users, and the other is that fuel use really starts going up over that 90 kph mark."
He says the move to drop road speeds, often against the advice of roading engineers, has been frustrating to a lot of people, and caused confusion to drivers.
"We’ve been advocating for a return to sensible road speed limits for a while now so it is good to see the coalition Government taking this step.
About Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand
Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand is the peak national membership association representing the road freight transport industry. Our members operate urban, rural and inter- regional commercial freight transport services throughout the country.
New Zealand’s road freight transport industry employs 33,000 people (1.2 per cent of the total workforce), and has a gross annual turnover in the order of $6 billion. This is part of a wider transport sector that employs 108,000 people and contributes 4.8 per cent of New Zealand’s GDP.
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