More deaths predicted after highway speed limit hike

Seven sections of State Highway 6 between Nelson and Blenheim will have speed limits lifted to 100kph on Monday, despite the incidence of death and serious injury accidents steeply dropping when lower limits were in place.

Speeds from Atawhai through to Blenheim, with the exception of a section near Woodbourne in Marlborough, and townships and settlements, are to return to 100kph along a route previously identified by transport officials as a “high risk rural highway”.

In a statement, NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi said the sections of State Highway 6 were consulted on earlier this year and results showed there was not majority support to retain the lower speed limits on them.

Under the coalition Government’s Setting of Speed Limits Rule 2024, the lowered speed limits on these seven sections had to revert to the original higher speed by July 1, unless there was majority public support to keep them.

According to NZTA’s consultation report an average of just 35% of respondents indicated they supported retaining the lower speed limits across the seven stretches.

The previous reductions four years ago saw speeds along SH6 drop from 100kph to 90kph or 80kph. The Whangamoa Saddle, parts of Atawhai, and the Pelorus Bridge were reduced to 60kph.

Rai Valley publican and firefighter Jamie Knight was disappointed about the outcome, especially for a road that he said had been under maintained for years.

After the speed limits were dropped in December 2020, the local fire service didn’t go out to car accidents very often, he said.

In the four years since the reduction (because data for 2025 was not complete), there were 11 serious crashes on the highway, three of which were fatal. In the four years before the reduction, there were 34 serious crashes, six of which were fatal.

“From a firefighter’s perspective, I believe we will probably go to more crashes, and those crashes probably will have more serious injuries than if [the speed limit] was kept lower,” Knight said.

Femke Meinderts, of Parents for Active Transport Atawhai (PATA), said the community was “extremely afraid, concerned and disappointed” about the speed limit hikes.

Many members of the school community drove between Hira and Atawhai, and the increase would make their commutes extremely dangerous, she said.

Meinderts also believed the community would bear the brunt of higher speed limits with increased crashes and deaths.

According to NZTA data, 30 schools in the area “strongly opposed” retaining the lower limits, which Meinderts said “seemed strange”. Only 14 schools supported retaining lower limits.

An NZTA spokesperson said in the consultation form, respondents were asked to identify with different groups, including if they represented a school on the road.

“People who either were staff or school advocates may have identified with this group, meaning there were a number of people who submitted they identified that they were representing a school. It does not mean that that was the total number of schools submitting on the consultation.”

Nelson mayor Nick Smith said he supported the increased speeds on long straight stretches, though his preference was to maintain the lower limit on the very windy sections in the Whangamoas.

He would also like to see NZTA invest in further passing lanes on the state highway between Nelson and Blenheim, where motorists got frustrated by slow vehicles and took unwise risks.

Smith said he was “nervously awaiting” the outcome of the speed reviews for SH6 Marybank and Wakefield, expected before July 1. He hoped the Government would listen to local residents to retain the 60kph in those areas.

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