Hamilton leading the way in road safety

Hamilton City Council has adopted a revised speed bylaw which further advances its safer speeds project in the city.

Included in the changes were the introduction of several 40kph variable speed zones around schools which now means that every school in the City has this in place making it much safer for our most vulnerable road users at the school gate in the morning and afternoon. More permanent 40km per hour speed zones in our quieter residential streets were also a feature as were reductions in speed for many of the rural roads within the City and on its boundaries.

The Hamilton City Council was congratulated by both the NZ Police and the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for their whole of City approach to road safety through slower speeds.

Leo Tooman, NZ Police’s Road Policing Manager Waikato said that the NZ Police fully support the safer speed areas within Hamilton City as it will enhance the project of ‘Prevention First’ which is preventing crime and reducing crashes.  “I would very much like to see neighbourhoods start to reclaim their streets and this in turn will enhance their community safety.”

NZTA's Robert Brodnax, Manager Planning and Investment, says "the NZTA supports the principle of introducing safe speed areas in the Hamilton City area and we will be assessing the effectiveness of the project to inform future speed limit reviews."

As part of delivering on its Access Hamilton Strategy Chair of the Strategy and Policy Committee, Cr Maria Westphal said that the bylaw changes today will make it much safer for pedestrians and all road users and send a strong message that managing speed is vital if we all want to live in a safe city.

“As outlined in the changes we are leading the way in proposing 40, 60 and 80 km per hour speed limits which over time will rationalise the many speed limits we now have and lead to a good balance between road safety on neighbourhood streets and support economic development on our arterials. I would like to thank both the staff and the submitters for the time and effort they have put into developing this Bylaw so it truly reflects our specific community needs.”

Click here to view the Committee report