GRAPHIC: ODT Residents of a small coastal Dunedin community feel ‘‘unseen and unheard’’ after a committee recommended reducing speed limits despite overwhelming opposition. Earlier this month, a Dunedin City Council hearings committee recommended the speed limit in Taieri Mouth Rd, south of Brighton, be reduced from 100kmh to 80kmh. This was despite over 130 submitters objecting the proposal. Since then, a petition already signed by more than 500 people has been established to make their displeasure heard. Taieri Mouth resident and petition organiser Louise Farmer said she felt everything the people who had submitted said had been totally disregarded. ‘‘They just want to do a blanket reduction across the whole stretch of road, which we think unfairly disadvantages the majority.’’ The road is part of the Southern Scenic Route and the hearing report said the average operating speed along the road was 88kmh-92kmh. The council sought feedback on three options: maintain the 100kmh speed limit, reduce the speed limit to 80kmh on the full length of road (13.9km) or reduce the speed limit to 80kmh on the road’s southern 6.3km stretch. There were 78 submitters who were in favour of reducing speed on the road’s full length and 27 were in favour of reducing the speed at the southern stretch. The most popular option was to maintain the speed limit, 133 people in favour. Ms Farmer said the local community who use the road felt ‘‘unseen and unheard’’ that the committee had chosen to recommend changes despite clear support for the status quo. ‘‘Their analysis that they’ve come up with most drivers going between 85 and 92 shows that the road in itself is self-regulating, so people aren’t speeding in the dangerous parts anyway.’’ She said most of those 133 submitters would have been fine with having the speed reduced on the southern 6.3km stretch, near the Kuri Bush settlement. ‘‘We’re not listened to, at all, and we’re the majority of the commuters.’’ During deliberations earlier this month, committee member Cr Andrew Simms said he believed greater weight should be given to the submissions of those who lived in the road, particularly Kuri Bush residents. He noted a benefit disclosure statement estimated reducing the speed limit along the whole road would increase travel times between Taieri Mouth and Dunedin by about 54 seconds. ‘‘I think also [commuters] have that advantage of knowing the road and I suspect that most of them will continue to drive at the same speed anyway. ‘‘So the inconvenience for them I don’t think overrides the safety of people who are less familiar with the road.’’ Cr Simms said a full-length speed limit reduction carried the lowest risk for the council and community — ‘‘including the sea lion community’’. The final decision on the proposed reduction sits with the full council, which will consider the committee’s recommendation. laine.priestley@odt.co.nz
