A safety-concerned Martinborough resident has asked the council to consider dropping the speed limit to 30kmh permanently on a heavy truck bypass route through the town.
Joelle Thompson raised the Dublin St proposal at Wednesday’s South Wairarapa District Council [SWDC] Strategy Working Committee.
She said the speed limit on Dublin St needed to be decreased “for the safety and comfort of residents and particularly of primary school children”.
“The street is home to the Martinborough Primary School, is a residential zone, and has morphed over time,” Thompson said.
“The school was on this street prior to it being a heavy truck bypass, which makes it a strange choice of a road on which to locate a truck bypass.
“There is an increasing volume of traffic, much of which is exceeding the current 40kmh speed limit in the school zone, with many cars travelling at 60kmh at certain times of day and significantly faster on some evenings – not only on weekends.”
Variable speed reductions to 30kmh were included in the council’s draft speed management plan for the school zone section of Dublin St [between Greenaway Place to Vitners Lane].
Minutes show that councillors deferred the decision on the variable speed zone at its September meeting last year.
The speed management plan is currently on hold while the Government reframes the Land Transport rules in a move to reverse blanket speed reductions.
In December, Transport Minister Simeon Brown asked councils to stop any work on speed plans.
The Government wants to implement variable speed limits near schools during pick up and drop off times, rather than permanent reductions.
SWDC partnerships and operations manager Stefan Corbett said permanently reducing the speed for the duration of the bypass was within the council’s domain via the speed review.
Thompson also suggested prominent signage at the entrance to the village could highlight lower speed limits in and around Martinborough.
She also noted recent repairs to Dublin St were appreciated by residents, but the condition of the road had worsened since the work was done.
The state of the road, and speeding vehicles, contributed to unwelcome noise for residents, she said.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
30k or 40k even 50k speed limits are there for safety purposes 🤔. Drivers still have to drive to the conditions that could be even lower speeds. We need more Drivers that think Not drivers that just
Steer.