Skip to main content

New Zealand speed limits will be increased if National wins next election

'Blanket approach' to speed reduction under Labour government will end, opposition says
By Adam Hill September 28, 2023 Read time: 1 min
New Zealand highways: speeding up again? (© Rafael Ben Ari | Dreamstime.com)

New Zealand's opposition National party has said it will roll back some of the ruling Labour party's reforms on road speed limits.

The speed reductions were designed to improve road safety.

The country holds a general election on 14 October - and if National wins, it says that it will look at increasing speed limits on new highways to 110km/h, while returning many state highways to 100km/h (up from 80km/h) and local roads to 50km/h (up from 30km/h).

The party's transport spokesman Simeon Brown said: "Where it's safe to do so, we will reinstate the previous speed limit."

He also said changes were required to the way highway workzones were operated, with "unecessary" use of road cones and temporary speed limit restrictions to be looked at "while also maintaining the health and safety of our road workers".

National has criticised what it calls Labour's "blanket approach" to speed limits and wants to speed up traffic.

"This inflexible approach is unnecessarily slowing Kiwis down and harming economic activity by increasing travel times," insisted National leader Christopher Luxon. 

A win for his party would lead to "a more balanced approach", he added.

Related Content

  • The case for tolling the Interstates
    April 20, 2012
    Speaking at an event organised by the IBTTA last week to an audience of federal and state transportation officials, policy experts, financial analysts, and representatives from engineering firms, technology companies, and transportation facility operators, Ed Regan of Wilbur Smith Associates articulated a clear case for giving states flexibility to toll existing interstate highways.
  • VRU safety report urges enforcement
    March 18, 2020
    Enforcement must be at the heart of a drive to reduce vulnerable road user deaths and injuries, says the latest report from the European Transport Safety Council. Its facts and figures give authorities the justification to invest more in camera technology and other ITS solutions
  • EBRD investment to modernise Serbia's railways
    March 15, 2012
    The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is continuing to support the modernisation of Serbia’s transport infrastructure and promote further reform of the rail sector with a sovereign-guaranteed loan of up to €95 million (US$125 million) to the Serbian Railways company.
  • Putting a stop to intersection indecision
    March 9, 2015
    David Crawford takes a look at innovations to reduce crashes at rural intersections. Intersection crashes continue to represent a worryingly large share of deaths and serious injuries across US highway networks. Statistics from the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration show that an average of 21% of road traffic accident deaths occur at crossings. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) calculates that intersection crashes account for 48% of all injury-related i