Proposed changes to speed limits

We are using local knowledge and data to make sure we have done everything we can to make our roads safer. Our aim is to make sure that our local roads have travel speeds that match the risk. Our first stage is focused on safer speeds around schools and locations around the district where informal speed limits are already in place.

Even the most skilled drivers make mistakes. Most drivers understand that New Zealand’s roads can be challenging. Good speed management gives drivers the cues they need to judge the safe and appropriate speed for the road they are on. We are also actively promoting road safety with school children and through public education campaigns.

Good speed management is when technology, data, first-hand observation and local knowledge are used to inform interventions to make a road safer for everyone. This is why your feedback will help us understand if we have our proposals right or not. Efforts should be focussed on a combination of safe speeds, safe roads, safe cars and safe road users.

Not necessarily. Research shows that going faster doesn’t save as much time as we think. Waiting for lights to change or traffic to move means total travel times don’t vary much, even if you drive 10 km/h faster.

We will extend our speed management planning to review our whole district in the next Speed Management Plan review scheduled for 2026/27. As part of this, we will engage with the community to consider the speed management principles that should apply for the Whanganui District, and use these in informing appropriate speed changes and infrastructure changes to support road safety for the whole of our district’s roading network.

We believe that our children and young people have the right to travel safely to and from school. This is the first step in Whanganui’s speed management planning.

We will extend our speed management planning to review our whole district in the next Speed Management Plan review scheduled for 2026/27. In this we will consider our whole district, adjacent land-use, and our types of roads and road users to ensure that we are protecting everyone on or near our roads.

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi and the Ministry of Education have led safer speeds around schools with a focus on primary, intermediate and high schools. While some early childhood centres and kindergartens located near a school will be covered by our Speed Management Plan, the Land Transport Rule: Setting of Speed Limits 2022 does not specifically require them to have lower speed limits at this stage. We welcome any feedback on other priority locations for speed changes and will consider this as we prepare our full Speed Management Plan.

We will extend our speed management planning to review our whole district in the next Speed Management Plan review scheduled for 2026/27. In this we will consider our whole district, activities, roads and users to ensure that we are protecting everyone on or near our roads.

Yes, it does. Speed is the biggest factor between a correctable mistake and a fatal error. Every extra kilometre per hour increases the likelihood of someone being killed or injured in a crash. Regardless of what causes a crash, speed plays a part. In addition to this, studies carried out in New Zealand and across the world have established very strong evidence for ‘survivable speeds’ of crashes involving vehicles, and pedestrians and cyclists. A maximum speed of 30km/h equates to a survival rate of 90%, and is more than 99% for crashes at 20km/h.

We are proposing to construct traffic calming measures around schools to help reinforce the proposed new speed limits. Enforcement by New Zealand Police of the new speed limits will continue as per any other speed limit in this country.

Once we have adopted the Speed Management Plan, the plan will be submitted to the Director of Land Transport for certification. Staff will then be able to start implementing the changes as agreed in the plan. New signs will be installed to inform road users and the change will be recorded in the National Speed limit register. It will then be enforceable by the police from the effective date for each new speed limit.

Research shows that speed limits in school zones are most effective between 300m-500m long. Drivers tend to slow down if the zone is between these lengths. The maps we have prepared (the links can be found under supporting information on this page) show what this would look like for all schools in the district. However, the plan will enable the actual zones to be adjusted if required, through the consideration of submissions, hearings, and deliberations as part of public consultation and the council’s approval processes.

The national Speed Management Guide establishes the grouping of schools into two categories to determine the appropriate speed limit for their surrounding roads:
Category one: most likely to be in urban areas where speed limits of 30km/h – either as a permanent speed limit, or a variable speed limit operating at either end of the school day at drop-off and pick-up times – are appropriate to the movement of traffic.
Category two: in rural areas of our network, with lower use of active modes, 40km/h, 50km/h, or 60km/h speeds and variable speeds operating when school traffic will be present.

As an initial step, we are focussed on safer speeds around schools and locations around the district where informal speed limits are already in place. Soon we will be extending our speed management and review to our wider district. We will be considering all feedback we have received to date when we draft our next Speed Management Plan, which includes previous feedback provided to the council through email, phone calls, or discussions with members of our customer services and roading teams. All requests regarding speed limits from our communities will be considered in developing our speed management principles, and how these will apply to speeds across our district when we prepare our full Speed Management Plan.