Introducing rural speed zones

Excessive speed is New Zealand’s biggest road safety problem. In 2004, travelling too fast for the conditions was responsible for 37 per cent of New Zealand’s fatal crashes.

The government introduced rural speed zones as part of the Road Safety Strategy to 2010, which aims to reduce the annual road toll to no more than 300 fatalities and 4,500 hospitalisations by 2010. Rural speed zoning is also part of the government’s speed management programme announced in December 2004.

Rural speed zoning is designed to encourage motorists to drive at speeds appropriate for road conditions and road safety risks.

Rural speed zones

A rural speed zone is a designated stretch of road (usually no less than 10 kilometres long) where the speed limit has been set for the operating conditions and physical characteristics of the road rather than the standard rural speed limit of 100 km/h. When setting the speed limit, road controlling authorities consider, for example, the width of the road, whether the road is straight or curved, how wide the shoulder is, whether the road has a median barrier, and the speeds that people generally drive on that stretch of road.

Speed limits lower than the default rural speed limit of 100 km/h have been set on some rural roads already, for example, north of Orewa, south of Paekakariki near Wellington and outside Christchurch airport. These have been done on an ad hoc basis to deal with specific problems on those stretches of road.

A consistent approach to rural speed zoning is being developed because of the increasing number of road sections that road controlling authorities have identified as likely to benefit from a lower speed limit.

Land Transport New Zealand’s role

Land Transport New Zealand is leading a project that will assess rural speed zones sites across the country. The project will help determine a robust and consistent method of determining speed limits for these zones and establish whether road safety and sustainability benefits can be attributed to rural speed zoning.

Over the past 12 months road controlling authorities (RCAs) have identified sites in their jurisdiction for assessment. These include state highways and rural open roads where the current speed limit is 100 km/h. Land Transport NZ has assessed each site to determine its suitability for rural speed zoning and has recommended a speed limit. Once sites are approved, RCAs go through the formal process of setting speed limits for their individual sites.

Land Transport NZ will monitor these rural speed zones over the next two years to determine if a) rural speed zoning will help minimize road fatalities and b) the national criteria outlined in the draft policy on rural speed zoning is appropriate, before changing the existing Speed Limits Rule.

The first rural speed zones in the country set under this project are: rural sections of Paekakariki Hill Road, Grays Road and Airlie Road in Porirua City, and the 8 km stretch of State Highway 2 through the Karangahake Gorge east of Paeroa.

For further information on rural speed zones, visit the Land Transport NZ website: www.landtransport.govt.nz.

Page created: 2 December 2005