Lower speed limits are being sought on Dunback Rd, State Highway 85, on the outskirts of Palmerston.
Dunback Rd resident Tina Liddall is seeking to have the present 100kmh speed limit past her home reduced to 70kmh "before someone is killed''.
She would also like to see the 70kmh speed limit on SH85 between the Brough St corner in Palmerston and the corner before her property reduced to 50kmh. Transit said it was "considering'' extending the 70kmh zone.
Somebody was going to get killed pulling out of her driveway on to Dunback Rd if the speed limit was not changed, Ms Liddall said yesterday.
She and partner Tahi Miller did not want any of their four children to be accident victims.
The 70kmh speed limit which ended 20m on the Palmerston side of her driveway should be extended for another 100m, Ms Liddall said.
"We want this speed limit reduced,'' Mr Miller reinforced yesterday, as "it is simply too dangerous for our children''.
In addition, Ms Liddall would like to see the 70kmh speed limit which runs from just east of her front gate for almost 1km towards the Palmerston town centre reduced to a 50kmh zone. That section of SH85 is substantially built up. Neighbours supported her campaign to reduce the speed limit, she said.
Many vehicles exceeded the 70kmh speed limit, she said, and when vehicles travelled out of Palmerston on SH85, the 100kmh zone sign on the corner before Ms Liddall's home was visible for several hundred metres. Cars and heavy trucks tended to speed up.
Transit was "considering'' extending the 70kmh zone which ends just before Ms Liddall's driveway for "about 100m'' further to the west, a Transit spokesman said yesterday.
Transit staff would consult with the Waitaki District Council. If a decision was made to extend the 70kmh zone, it could be at least six months before any change was made, as any change would have to be gazetted.
A "warrant system'' was used to work out changes to speed limits, the Transit spokesman said. The 70kmh zone on the outskirts of Palmerston on SH85 was at the "lower end'' of the "warrant system'' criteria for reducing the speed limit, he said. Vehicle traffic, walkers, cyclists, property access and business development along the road all had to be considered.
There did not seem to be a strong possibility of reducing the speed limit to 50kmh along the road, the spokesman said.