Ponsonby Road
Introduction |
Background | How it
might affect you
Introduction
Auckland City Council recently carried out a public consultation to assess the
suitability of changing the speed limit on Ponsonby Road from 50km/h to 40km/h.
With nearly 1000 responses received, almost 80 per cent were in favour of the
change.
Background
The Ponsonby precinct between Jervois Road and Karangahape Road provides for
high quality retail and commercial businesses including cafes and restaurants.
It also is a key arterial route and like other urban arterial routes, Ponsonby
Road also provides access to adjoining roads and properties, on street parking
and linkages for passenger transport services.
Ponsonby Road caters for around 29,000 vehicles and 500 buses each day. Around
5000 pedestrians walk along Ponsonby Road and up to 6000 pedestrians frequent
the Three Lamps area of Ponsonby Road.
This presents a number of challenges with the conflicting demands of the network
and the use of the area between people and traffic.
The Western Bays Community Board resolved at its January 2009 meeting that the
council investigate the need for a 40km/h speed restriction along Ponsonby Road.
A petition with more than 600 signatures outlining a request for the speed limit
to be reduced to 40km/h was also presented to Auckland City Council.
There have been a high number of reported crashes along this section of road
with 253 crashes recorded between 2004 and 2008. Thirteen of these crashes
involved pedestrians and resulted in either injury or death.
The relationship between speed and injury severity is particularly critical for
pedestrians and cyclists. For example, pedestrians have a 90 per cent chance of
survival when struck by a car travelling at 40km/h or below, but only around a
20 per cent chance of surviving at an impact speed of 50km/h or greater.
Reducing the speed limit on Ponsonby Road may contribute in reducing the number
of crashes and it is likely to reduce the severity of injury to pedestrians,
cyclists and motorcyclists involved in crashes.
How it might affect you
From 14 September 2009, the 40km/h speed limit will operate along all of
Ponsonby Road between Jervois Road and Karangahape Road and on the approaches to
all intersections along Ponsonby Road.
Given that the average operating speed is 38.64km/h, the proposal to reduce the
existing speed limit from 50km/h to 40km/h is not expected to have any adverse
impact on:
- retailers and businesses
- journey times
- vehicle emissions
- the quality or frequency of passenger transport services.
Although the average speed limit is already below 40km/h, the enforcement of an
actual 40km/h speed limit will aim to lower the speed of individual motorists
who drive what is considered to be at an unsafe speed.
We envision that residents, business owners and all road users will benefit from
improved safety along Ponsonby Road as a result of the reduction in the speed
limit.
New Zealand Police fully support the change and will enforce it once it is
implemented.
View the map below to see the area this new speed limit
affects:
Auckland City Speed Limits plan (804kb PDF)
Updated September 2009
