Heather Morris has won her speeding battle but the cost for the inpatient traveller was not too hefty — just one second. Mrs Morris moved to a house just east of Ettrick about 20 months ago. With keeping horses and carting them round the district it was difficult, near-on impossible, to get out of her new property, living on a road — State Highway 8 — which had a 100kmh speed limit. After having had a couple of close shaves, in a 13m long vehicle, including a horse trailer, she decided something had to be done before an accident occurred. So she wrote to NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) about adjusting the speed limit from 100kmh to 80kmh. Some replies were forthcoming but to Mrs Morris it seemed glacial. Consultants came along and had a look and saw the vehicles sail past as they attempted to get up to the 100kmh speed. Mrs Morris continued sending the emails — every two weeks, she said — and some progress was made. Central Otago NewsHeather Morris and her horse Mach outside her house last year, just east of Ettrick. PHOTO: ELLA JENKINS NZTA recognised the dangers and then decided to look at extending the 80kmh speed limit in the Ettrick township to past Mrs Morris’s property. After consultation with interested parties, the decision was made last week to extend the 80kmh limit past her house. In a NZTA summary of the change, it said the reduction of the speed limit by 20kmh over the 230m would have an impact on travel of one second per trip for all vehicles. It would cost $15,000 to set in the changes. No crashes had been recorded in the area in the past five years. When contacted on Tuesday, Mrs Morris said it was great to win the war but she still had to wait for the sign to go up. "Now I’ve got the speed reduced I might start at looking at the light we’ve got here . . . I was moving the furniture round the other day and saw we had a light on the lamp post outside us,” she said. "It has never gone since we have been here. I better get hold of them [NZTA] to see what is going on.” Cars were still speeding by. Perhaps a speed camera or two might help ease the speeding, she said. Mrs Morris said she had her fair share of speeding tickets over the years and had no sympathy for those who went over the limit.
