Police to enforce speed limits at urban schools under new plans

A raft of speed limit changes are on the cards for Marlborough's roading network, including permanent 40kph speeds outside schools.

The Marlborough District Council is opting to push ahead with its Speed Management Plan despite a directive from government announced in December which means it's no longer compulsory.

It meant the council could implement its plan over a number of years, with some of the speed limit changes not planned until 2033 to 2036, while other more pressing changes would be be made in the shorter term.

Marlborough Roads senior transport planner Laura Skilton told the council's assets and services meeting last month the plan was 90 percent done when the new government changed the legislation - so her recommendation was to certify it anyway.

The plan did not cover roads under NZTA authority, such as state highways.

"You will see I've updated the implementation plan in the speed management plan, to try and spread out the costs, so that the first three years will be the stuff that we've identified that needs to be done," Skilton said.

"The main area that I've recommended to delay is around the schools - that's with the exception of Grovetown School, Riverlands, Spring Creek and Springlands."

School speed limits

Schools in Marlborough currently had "variable" 40kph signs that police were not able to enforce.

But under the plan, many of the advisory signs would be switched out for enforceable speed limits. Most of these switches would take place at urban schools, while rural schools would continue to have advisory signs.

Originally the council consulted on lowering speeds to 30kph outside schools, but the committee which heard submissions, made up of councillors Brian Dawson, Scott Adams and Barbara Faulls, landed on reducing these to 40kph instead.

Blenheim ward councillor Jonathan Rosene questioned why the committee settled on a 40kph speed reduction.

"I just remember in a previous meeting we were talking about survivability for pedestrian v car, and - that was put at 30kph.

"It's been discussed before, and I'd just like to see it, maybe, just reconsidered."

Assets and services chairperson Brian Dawson said of all the decisions the panel had to make, school speed limits was the one they "wrestled" with the most.

He said it came down to a question about whether people would adhere to a 30kph sign.

"I think our worry was that at 30kph people would say that's way too slow and just dismiss it and just think 'I'm going to ignore it'," he said.

"We thought 40kph was a reasonable request of motorists, we're flagging that you are close to a school, we are asking you to slow down but to a speed that we thought people would respect, rather than just saying you're request of me is too difficult."

Skilton said there were plans to do more than just reduce speeds.

"We are actually going to make the school more noticeable in general," she said.

For Rapaura School, a rural school, the plan proposed to install more variable speed limit signs and upgrade the existing crossing point to a patrolled pedestrian crossing, which would require dropping the speed limit outside the school on Hammerichs Rd from 100kph to 50kph.

Targeted consultation in the Marlborough Sounds

Skilton said there was a number of submissions received from residents in Elaine Bay, Okiwi Bay, French Pass and Kaiuma Bay requesting a lower speed limit on their roads.

The roads in the Kenepuru Sound were already proposed to reduce from 100kph to 60kph, so the plan suggested changing speed limits in other Marlborough Sounds areas, including French Pass, to 60kph which would "provide consistency within the Sounds".

This would require targeted consultation.

Dawson said a lot of passionate people came to the chamber to tell them how important it was that the speed was reduced in the Marlborough Sounds, many with stories of people getting "pulled out of ditches".

"To me, we would be doing those people a disservice if we now turn around and said despite your passionate pleas, we are now not going to go ahead with those speed limit reductions that you consider vital for the safety of your community," Dawson said.

Most of the plan had been deferred to 2027 at the earliest except for changes considered "essential". These include speed limit reductions on Kenepuru Rd and Marfells Beach.

There would be increases to speeds on Beaver Rd and Seymour St for consistency in the roading network.

The committee approved the plan, which was subject to full council approval on 26 February, before being passed on to NZTA for certification.

The draft Speed Management Plan was available to view on the council's website.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.