Safety announcement pales in comparison to RONS

The Government’s latest announcement of safety improvements for roads across New Zealand shows how important National’s Roads of National Significance programme is, and why it should’ve been picked up by Transport Minister Phil Twyford, National’s Transport spokesperson Paul Goldsmith says.

“Motorists do make mistakes on our roads and we want to minimise the effects of those mistakes, but single lane highways with a line of sticks separating traffic, nowhere to pass and lower speed limits is a poor substitute for the highly engineered four lane state highways National was building.

“Even with the raised 110 kilometre per hour speed limit, National’s Roads of National Significance are some of the safest in New Zealand, and they help Kiwis get to their destination quicker.

“But under the current Government the much needed upgrades to our regional highways have been left in the dust as the funding is funnelled into a slow tram to Auckland Airport.

“$5.3 billion has been siphoned from the regions and they are now forced to settle for half measures and compromises.

“The announcement from the Government doesn’t go far enough. New Zealanders are paying more across the country in fuel taxes, they deserve to see extensive investment in their regional roads.”

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