The insanity of local Communities having to fight to lower road speeds
There is so much local backlash to the madness of raising the speed limits and they are coming in all directions…
Rotorua residents push to maintain 80km/h limit on busy state highway
More than 500 people have signed a petition to keep a busy section of Rotorua state highway at 80km/h, with its creator calling for support from the city’s mayor and MP.
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) consultation on the Government’s intention to reverse speed limit reductions under the previous Government closes on Thursday.
Some will revert automatically and others are subject to public feedback.
Transport Minister Chris Bishop said at the time the changes would make it easier for people and freight to move as quickly and efficiently as possible, and would drive economic growth and productivity.
Anger at speed limit changes: ‘It affects so many people on the roads’
A small Far North community is “angry and frustrated” it’s been forced to once again fight a battle over speed limits it thought it had already won.
A decades-long campaign by residents of Taumatamākuku, a settlement on State Highway 1 between Kawakawa and Moerewa, paid off in August 2020 when NZTA dropped the speed limit past their homes from 100km/h to 80km/h.
Residents said they wanted lower speeds because they were tired of “running the gauntlet” every time they drove to the shops, and of tending to the injured every time there was a serious crash outside their homes.
However, the highway through Taumatamākuku is one of ten around Northland where recent speed limit reductions could be reversed by 1 July, under new, retrospective rules for setting speed limits.
‘Slap in the face’: Gisborne residents fight possible speed limit changes
Gisborne residents who successfully petitioned for lower speed limits years ago say they are “absolutely disappointed” and “frustrated” stretches of State Highway 35 could return to higher speeds.
Community after Community, some who had previously fought to reduce speeds and won, are now being forced by this Government to fight again!
The argument is that lifting speeds (including speeds around schools) will magically raise productivity.
Bullshit.
National have weaponised our impatience for the gridlock the Government’s mass immigration policies gave manufactured alongside our pitiful investment in road safety.
By weaponising our impatience (thanks to the gridlock they’ve brought us), National hope to win political favour from impatient drivers despite their solution causing more injuries and road deaths.
For National, that’s a price they are prepared to pay.
This is the Government Kiwis elected.
Those local communities should remember that at the next election.
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Fact is, these goons have so little to offer in the way of good policy in any area of government (and they know it) they have to offer silly things like raised speed limits to the dunces who voted for them.
They speak to easily impressed voters who lap it up. They are taken in every time by big talk not backed up by logic, facts or past experience. They believe what they want to hear.
Look at that pair. Honestly, what appeal do they have? There’s nothing about either of those men that makes me think they care or know what they’re doing. They both look plain shifty and dumb.
Interesting how the regime media never cover the petitions against the insane lowered limits.
Nothing is preventing people from driving slower if they want to though.
Having got used to it, why not? Save some fuel.
(facepalm)
An occasional few choosing to drive slower is going to do eff all to protect other users, such as locals, those with access to driveways affected, children on bicycles etc.
Whether by means of bowel cancer of accident trauma, Simian is out to get you.
Culture war red meat for the sort of people who think an extra 2 mins on their journey to reduce the risk of injuring someone else is an appalling infringement of their ‘freedom’ to act like a self-interested a*sehole.
Personally, I’d force Simian and the Bish to be on call 24/7 for the rest of their lives providing complete daily living support for paraplegic and quadriplegic victims of road accidents. And charitably, I’d pay them the minimum wage as set by their government and they would not be entitled to any future increases set by Labour-led governments.
Is “100” the aggregate IQ of these two? If so what’s the split? My guess: The Bish 91, Luxon 9.
So clearly speed cameras and police pointing speed radars at cars must be banned immediately. Productivity problem solved.
Luxon and Bishop proudly display a new weekly record for pies consumed by the Speaker of the House.