Kerre Woodham: A budget of $2.9 billion and this is the best they can do?

Honestly, a budget of $2.9 billion and this is the best Waka Kotahi can come up with?

They've announced sweeping speed limit decreases on state highways around the country, saying it is our, Waka Kotahi’s, responsibility to do better as this year's road toll surpasses 2021’s deaths, with more than a month and a public holiday to come. 

This is how they do better? I cannot believe the amount of money that is spent on the people within the organisation, the consultants, the studies, the research, and the answer is; ‘go slow’.

Dylan Thompson, the AA Road safety spokesperson, was on Early Edition this morning and said that lowering speed limits does make a difference to the road toll. 

And we’ve seen that in places like Ponsonby Rd in Auckland. A very busy strip full of restaurants and cafes where you have people whose judgment perhaps might be slightly clouded, you know, attempting to step out into traffic. When they lowered the speed limit on that busy inner city street to 40kms, it's made a difference.

There are fewer pedestrian injury crashes. But it's an inner city street, big difference to a highway. 

National’s transport spokesman Simeon Brown says the responses, a shortsighted quick fix, attempt to address the problem of road safety that is overly simplistic and doesn't deal with the underlying issues. Darn tootin’ Simeon.

With a budget of $2.9 billion, perhaps Walka Kotahi can assist people into safer, newer cars.

Then you'd see the numbers come down. With a budget of $2.9 billion, perhaps you can fix a few potholes so that when somebody in an old unsafe vehicle hits one, they don't go careering off and crash and kill themselves. Put in a few median barriers.

Their answer is that speed kills.  Well of course it does. You can't come to grief if you're stationary, can you?

And that's what the answer seems to be for Waka Kotahi and this Government overall. Have us all sitting there still, stationary, going nowhere. Ahh, but at least we'll be safe. 

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