Council adopts amended bylaw
Councillors adopted the amended Speed Limits Bylaw at a Council meeting on 11 August.
Speed limits of 5km/h will be in place soon on the beaches at Makorori and Kaiti.
The amended bylaw will reduce speeds on around 12 percent of our local roads. To implement the new limits Council staff are now going through a certification process with Waka Kotahi.
Council community lifelines director David Wilson says all the changes in the amended bylaw are in line with Waka Kotahi’s Road to Zero safety strategy, which is seeing speeds reduce in rural and urban areas right across the country.
“The strategy has also set targets for all Councils that 40 percent of schools are to have Safe and Appropriate Speeds (SAAS) in place by 2024.”
The changes adopted went out for community consultation in draft form over April and May, with 154 submissions received. The majority of those who submitted supported speed reductions, particularly around schools and beaches.
At that time the speed limit proposed for Makorori and Kaiti beaches was 20km/h. That was reduced to 5km/h after a hearing at the end of June attended by 7 residents who spoke to their submissions.
In Tairāwhiti the changes adopted yesterday include:
- Reduce speeds in some rural areas from 100km/h to 80, 60 or 50km/h where there’s new growth, recent crash history or to support walking and cycling and where there’s support shown from residents
- Reduce speeds in some rural and urban areas from 70km/h to 50 or 30km/h and from 50km to 40 or 30km/h to support walking and cycling, with support shown from residents
- Set a new speed limit of 5km/h on Makorori and Kaiti beaches.
Winter beach races on Makorori Beach held by the Gisborne Motorcycle Sports Club can continue because they have a current resource consent with a traffic management plan in place for this activity.
Initial proposal to amend the speed limits
Gisborne District Council proposal to amend the Speed Limit Bylaw 2013 to reduce some speed limits on local roads in the Tairāwhiti district.
This is to align with the national direction on speed management and speed limit setting from Waka Kotahi introducing 20, 30, 40 and 60km/h speed limits.
Following community engagement last year on our Draft Speed Management Plan and with guidance from Waka Kotahi (NZ Transport Agency) on Safe And Appropriate Speeds (SAAS) for Tairāwhiti, we have drafted the following changes to the bylaw.
We propose to amend the speed limits on approximately 12% of local road. The state highways are excluded and are under separate review by Waka Kotahi. The proposed changes include:
- Reduce speeds in some rural areas from 100km/h to 80, 60 or 50km/h where there’s new growth, recent crash history or to support walking and cycling and where there’s support shown from residents.
- Reduce speeds in some rural and urban areas from 70km/h to 50 or 30km/h and from 50km to 40 or 30km/h to support walking and cycling, with support shown from residents.
- Set a new speed limit of 20km/h on Makorori and Kaiti beaches.
- Set new variable speeds to some schools of 30 or 40km/h.
Options considered
Preferred option - Option 3: Amendments to the schedules to effect speed limit changes to approximately 12% of the local road network.
Wait until the new rule comes into force before consulting on the proposed plan.
There is further guidance on how to consult and engage with the community under the new rule coming soon.
This option would allow more time for the development of guidelines to inform how we consult.
Currently our only guidelines are to consult as if it were a bylaw.
Further delays to the new rule are still a risk. Consulting later in the year is a risk due to local government elections then.
Engagement was carried out in May 2021 and there has already been significant delay to the many requests from the community for speed limit improvements.
Engagement with the community in May 2021 focused on a step change for speed limits with a broad-brush approach across the region affecting most roads accept some arterial roads.
| Road environment | Current speed limit | Waka Kotahi NZTA safe and appropriate speed | Our proposed speed limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gisborne CBD | 50km/h | 30km/h | 30km/h |
| Residential roads | 50km/h | 40km/h | 40km/h |
| Rural roads - sealed | 100km/h | 80km/h | 80km/h |
| Rural roads - unsealed and sealed roads that are arduous to drive | 100km/h | 60km/h | 80km/h |
| Arterial roads - such as Ormond, Lytton, Stanley, Rutene and parts of Gladstone Rd | 50km/h | 50km/h | 50km/h |
Feedback rejected the broad-brush approach opting for changes in specific locations such as the CBD, townships, schools, areas of growth/change for safety and wellbeing benefits from walking and cycling and areas where there were safety concerns.
In particular, it was controversial for Council to propose 80km/h as a step change to unsealed rural roads and sealed roads that are arduous to drive which did not align with SAAS 60km/h.
Although less that the current posted speeds of 100km/h, 80km/h was seen by Police and Waka Kotahi to be promoting an unsafe speed. The community typically felt the proposed speeds were too slow and would lead to more unsafe roads with driver frustration.
Speed limit changes to approximately 12% of the local road network as detailed in the amended speed limit bylaw. In accordance with the reasoning provided.
Proposed speed limit reductions
| Change to speed limit | Area | Reasons |
|---|---|---|
| 100km/hr to 60km/hr |
| In rural areas where there is new growth, recent crash history and/or support shown from residents. |
| Change to speed limit | Area | Reasons |
|---|---|---|
| 100km/hr to 80km/hr |
| In rural areas to support walking and cycling and support is shown from residents. |
| Change to speed limit | Area | Reasons |
|---|---|---|
| 100km/hr to 50km/h |
| In rural areas where there are already signs, high growth and/or support from residents |
| Change to speed limit | Area | Reasons |
|---|---|---|
| 100km/h to 30km/h |
| In rural areas to support walking and cycling and support is shown from residents. |
| Change to speed limit | Area | Reasons |
|---|---|---|
| 80km/h to 60km/h |
| In rural areas to support walking and cycling and support is shown from residents |
| Change to speed limit | Area | Reasons |
|---|---|---|
| 70km/h to 30km/h |
| In rural areas to support walking and cycling and support is shown from residents. |
| Change to speed limit | Area | Reasons |
|---|---|---|
| 70km/h to 40km/h |
| In rural areas to support walking and cycling and support is shown from residents |
| Change to speed limit | Area | Reasons |
|---|---|---|
| 70km/h to 60km/h |
| In rural areas to support walking and cycling and support is shown from residents |
| Change to speed limit | Area | Reasons |
|---|---|---|
| 50km/h to 30km/h |
| In recently improved urban areas where there is already signage and traffic calming in place to support walking and cycling and support is shown from residents. |
| Change to speed limit | Area | Reasons |
|---|---|---|
| 50km/h to 40km/h |
| In areas to support walking and cycling and support is shown from residents. |
| Change to speed limit | Area | Reasons |
|---|---|---|
| New 20km/h to Special Designated Areas |
| Support is shown from residents. |
| Change to speed limit | Area | Reasons |
|---|---|---|
| New Variable Speeds to schools of 30km/h, 40km/h or 60km/h | 30/40km/h variable
30/50km/h variable
40/50km/h variable
60/100km/h variable
| In areas to support walking and cycling and support is shown from residents. Scho |
