This year alone there have been 60 deaths on Waikato roads – the highest of any region in the country and consistent with previous years.

The Waikato Regional Transport Committee is currently developing a new speed management framework that aims to help prevent death and serious injury on the region's roads.

A new speed management framework being developed by the Waikato Regional Council's Transport Committee will look at preventing death and injury on the region's roads. Photo: File

Today the committee gave its support for a broad timeframe which will see the draft framework prepared over the coming year, ahead of public engagement.

To aid the project's development, the region has also been selected to demonstrate the new national Draft Speed Management Guide.

This guide has been developed by the road safety sector and will be employed over the coming year at a number of yet to be determined locations in the region.

Waikato Regional Councillor and committee chair Hugh Vercoe welcomes the demonstration project and the work to develop a long term regional speed management approach.

'The committee recognises that people are dying and being seriously injured in preventable crashes on our roads,” he says. 'We need a consistent approach which will be effective and which makes sense to the travelling public.

'Given the diversity of roads and speed settings we have in the Waikato I look forward to seeing the gains we can make for people in saving lives and reducing injury on our roads.”3

The new Draft Speed Management Guide offers a different ways to manage speeds on roads, with the aim of reducing deaths and serious injuries, while supporting overall economic productivity.

These ‘tools' include road markings, signage, education, reviewing of speed limits, road safety campaigns, as well as communication and consultation with communities.

Both the framework and demonstration of the guide align with the WRC committee's Regional Road Safety Strategy 2013-2016, and the Government's Safer Journeys Strategy.

The aim is to develop a regionally consistent approach to speed management, which recognises that not all roads are equal and what might be an effective package of measures to manage speeds on one road may not be appropriate for another.

The Waikato Regional transport Committee is comprised of representatives from the Waikato's various councils and organisations such as the NZ Transport Agency and police.

The demonstration project will be evaluated for possible roll out to other parts of the country.