Graeme Rice, who received a Queen’s Service Medal last year for services to road safety, was among submitters at a hearing about speed limits yesterday.
Reducing driving speeds was one way to make progress and this needed to be accompanied by others, such as intersection adjustments, Mr Rice said.
The Dunedin City Council has proposed widespread reductions in speed limits, including 30kmh zones in various suburban areas.
Mr Rice extracted material from a risk register that tracks deaths and serious injuries per 1million vehicle kilometres travelled or time spent in an activity such as cycling and walking.
It showed Dunedin was in the five worst councils in 2011 for crashes, urban intersections and risk to young drivers, older drivers, cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians.
In 2022, it ranked much better in such categories.
Mr Rice was involved in road safety activities in Dunedin from 1991 until his retirement in 2020.
"In 2011, Dunedin City’s track record was best described as abysmal in spite of some determined attempts to rectify the situation," he said.
Since 2011, interventions had included speed limit reviews, school safety zones, intersection treatments and a boost in road safety promotion.
Nationally, the road toll had got worse — there were 253 deaths in 2013, compared with 374 last year.
"My conclusion, therefore, is that we must have a quantum change in our attitudes and adopt a suite of measures, of which speed limit reviews are an essential one, to lift our country off the bottom of global road safety performance charts, up to an acceptable level for an OECD nation."
Wim Rosloot told the hearing far better cars were now on the roads and "wasting driver time" was not making roads safe.
Businesses would have their costs driven up by vehicles travelling at slow speeds in rural areas, he said.
Jim Loose said rural people knew how to drive to conditions.
Proposed reductions in speed limits would "make honest folk break the law every day".
Colin Weatherall doubted the practicality of slower speeds proposed between Waldronville and Brighton, as this was the start of a popular scenic route to the south through to Taieri Mouth.
Alena Lynch said she often travelled around Dunedin by walking, running and using public transport and she occasionally drove a car.
"Safety is incredibly important and slower driving speed limits will improve safety," she said.
"I would like to see Dunedin become a modern, forward-thinking city, where liveability is as important as the ability to move around the city in a safe and pleasant way.
"This means that car users should no longer be the dominant voice."
Cycling advocate Fraser Stephens said traffic speeds needed to be reduced in urban areas to make walking, cycling and scooting safer for people of all ages.
However, he disagreed with the "patchwork nature" of the proposed limits and he was worried about a proliferation of signage distracting drivers.
Submitters have commented on speed limits changing several times within short distances.
The hearing continues on Tuesday.
