More than 200 people have signed a petition to increase speeds along the Moutere Highway.
Last year, the road was reduced from 100kmh to 80kmh as the Tasman District Council conducted a comprehensive speed limit review of the region.
Hadyn Ellis, a Moutere local of 45 years, created the petition, which currently has 211 verified signatures on the Change.org website.
He understood the reasons for a reduction around the Upper Moutere village but says slower speeds along much of the rural highway, particularly the Redwood Valley straight, were “ridiculous”.
“It seems to have just got way overboard.”
Hadyn says that people will continue to crash despite the lowered speed limit.
“That’s the fact of life, driving along the road. Our problem is that people can’t drive properly,” he says.
“Most of the accidents are all caused by people, not caused necessarily by the road.”
While he personally prefers a return to 100kmh, he suggested a 90kmh speed limit as a compromise between those who had wanted reductions and those who did not.
“I’m not trying to be negative about the speed limit, all I’ve really got to say is ‘Look, I don’t think you made the right decision’,” Hadyn says.
South Island Regional Transport Association regional manager John Bond was in favour of a 100kmh speed limit.
“I don’t see why they changed it all down to 80kmh. I just think it’s just ridiculous,” he says.
He supported lower speeds past schools and through towns, but 100kmh was appropriate on a long, rural road that was in “very good condition”, like the Moutere Highway, he says.
Heavy trucks were optimised for travelling at around 90kmh, he adds, so an 80kmh limit was not ideal from both a fuel efficiency and a time saving point of view.
“Every minute, for us, counts.”
The Moutere Hills Residents Association had submitted in favour of the reduction.
Chair Nathan Silcock said the position had come out of a community petition and the preferences of those who attended one of the association’s annual general meetings.
“At that stage… [there was] very little negative feedback. I got only a couple of people that were against it, but the vast majority were in favour of it, and most normal people that I’ve talked to have reached the same conclusion.”
He adds that he had not since heard much from residents about the lowered 80kmh speed limit and reckons that people have just adjusted to the lower speeds, as they did when State Highway 60/the Appleby Highway was lowered in 2018.
“It feels safer to me… I’ve adjusted pretty quickly.”
The speed limit reduction on the Moutere Highway went through two rounds of consultation after a Government rule change largely invalidated the first process after it took power in 2024.
The first round saw 93% of submitters who specifically mentioned the Moutere Highway wanting to see its speed limits reduced, whereas the second round saw opposition of 56%.
The Moutere Highway has been classified as a high-risk rural road, with the 20km stretch between Redwood Valley Road and Edwards Road having seen 3 fatal, 18 serious, and 80 minor crashes in the 10-year period from 2014 to 2023.
Travel time estimates for the entire road were less than three minutes.
Reducing SH60 between Maisey Road and SH6 from 100kmh to 80kmh saw a 70% drop in crashes.
A cost-benefit analysis also shows savings of around $5–7 million for modest speed reductions on the region’s rural road network.
A Tasman District Council spokesperson says it opted to adopt an 80kmh speed limit over a 90kmh one due to the high crash rate on the road, the observed drop in severe crashes on the nearby section of state highway, and to maintain a consistent speed limit.
No formal review of the recently-changed speed limits is planned, but their effectiveness in lowering the number of crashes is being monitored.
A 5-year period was considered the minimum amount of time needed to robustly compare crash rates due to their random nature.
