Protecting the vulnerable shouldn’t be controversial — it’s the right thing to do

Everyone deserves to safely get to the places and people important to them. Our transport system must put people at the centre, and safe speed limits—along with other factors like road design and safe vehicles—are vital to keeping you and your loved ones safe on our roads. Tara Macmillan writes about the responsibility we have to make sure speed limits are fit for purpose.

Everyone should get to the people and places important to them. But not everyone does.

Already this year more than 320 people have lost their lives. Thousands more have been seriously injured.

It doesn’t need to be this way.

But it’s an abstract thought, right? “It’ll never happen to me.”

Until it does.

The people killed on New Zealand roads are somebody’s family, friends, loved one. The impact of their loss is devastating.

People dying and being seriously injured on our roads is preventable. The majority of deaths and serious injuries from crashes (around 70%) are from making a mistake, or from something unexpected happening. A moment’s inattention, or a lapse in concentration. A mistake shouldn’t cost anyone their life.

At least six people are killed and around 44 are reported seriously injured every week on New Zealand’s roads.

Just under 50 years ago, 843 people died on New Zealand’s roads. That number’s now more than halved, and it’s still not good enough. We’ve made enormous progress, but there’s a huge way to go.

We want people to be free to travel by car, by foot, by bike—however they choose—and not have to worry about whether they’ll complete their journey.

When our streets are calm and everyone travels at speeds appropriate for that space, our whānau and tamariki can move around freely and more safely.

Over the past three years Waka Kotahi has lowered speed limits on well over 400km of state highway. On those roads, we’re seeing fewer people being hurt or killed as result of crashes.

That’s what it’s all about—no more journeys tragically cut short.

To make sure everyone can get where they’re going, we’re addressing every part of the transport system.

Improving safety on our roads is a combination of things working together. We need speeds that suit the road and the surrounding area, we need vehicles and roads designed to protect people, and we need drivers with the right behaviours.

So—roads matter, vehicles matter, driver behaviour matters… and speeds matter.

As your speed increases, so does the distance you need to stop. You have less time to react, and there’s a greater chance other road users will misjudge how fast you’re travelling.

It doesn’t matter what the immediate cause of a crash is—a small change in speed makes a big difference to its outcome. Human bodies aren’t designed to be violently hurled against objects—the faster the speed, the more severe the injuries, and at higher speeds the severity of the crash increases exponentially.

Setting speed limits that are right for the road and environment around them are part of delivering Road to Zero, Aotearoa New Zealand’s road safety strategy. Last week we opened consultation on the next phase of setting safe speeds on more than 400km of state highways—440 locations, including 269 schools and 11 marae.

Safe speeds are about managing our ability to withstand impact. People walking and cycling are most vulnerable—that’s why we need safer speeds around schools, towns, and cities.

We care about our communities and take seriously our responsibility for making sure people can get to and from home, school, and work, no matter how they travel.

And we’ll never apologise for putting the safety of people first.

Tara Macmillan is Road to Zero portfolio manager at Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.