The Minister of Transport and New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) are undertaking a programme of reversing speed limit reductions put in place by the previous government.
Near the end of the programme, the speed limits on 16 designated Urban Connector sections of state highway were open to consultation. For these, the Setting of Speed Limits 2024 Rule requires, alongside community consultation, consideration of technical and safety data and a Cost Benefit Disclosure Statement. This opened the opportunity for a submission based on significant road trauma data available to RACS.
The AoNZ Trauma Committee made a submission on 13 May 2025, co-signed by the RACS President and the Chair of the Bi National Trauma Committee. We copied the submission to the Ministers of Health and Transport.
RACS submitted that the proposed reversal of speed limit reductions on the 16 designated Urban Connectors would be unsafe; NZTA cannot decide to reverse these speed limit reductions until adequate Cost Benefit Disclosure Statements are available; and the current speed limits for the 16 designated roads should remain in place beyond 1 July 2025. Road trauma causes immeasurable emotional distress to whānau and communities affected by these preventable tragedies. We also discussed the significant burden road trauma places on the healthcare system - on emergency departments, emergency medicine specialists, trauma surgeons, nurses, and allied health services. It has a direct impact on emergency department wait-times and clearance times, and the displacement of people on surgical waiting lists.