The section of Oropi Road that was the scene of a collision that killed two men in January is having its speed limit lowered to 80km/h.

The lowering from 100km/h was decided as one of several speed limit changes the Tauranga City Council determined this week – most of which come into effect on August 1.

This truck was involved in a crash on Oropi Road with a motorbike in January that caused both its driver and the rider to die. The speed limit on this road is now being reduced.

The other major speed limit reduction is in the Mount Maunganui area where many 50km/h streets are becoming 30km/h zones.

The change to the Oropi Road speed limit is a success for residents there who campaigned for it after Christopher Frederick Vickers, 55, and Robin Thomas Fong, 68, died when their vehicles, a motorcycle and light truck, collided at 9.15am on January 11.

The collision was on a bend outside 197 Oropi Road, about halfway between the garage and the Renner Park golf course.
The crash provoked residents to voice hopes a speed limit change would result from it as speeding vehicles on the increasingly built-up road were a common occurrence.

Oropi residents petitioned the council to have the speed limit lowered to 70km/h, but that was not supported by the NZ Transport Agency because median speeds in the area are well over 70km/h and would require policing to enforce.

There was also some debate among councillors about the 70 or 80km/h limit, says Tauranga City Council city transportation manager Martin Parkes.

'I feel at the present time 80km/h is probably more appropriate, however, that doesn't stop us reviewing it in 12-18 months time to see what impact the lower limit has had on driver behaviour,” says Martin.

'We can always review speed limits at any time through the bylaw process.”

The current speed limit on Oropi Road of 100km/h is to be lowered to 80km/h from State Highway 29 to a point halfway between Phillips Drive and Wood Road.

Phillips Drive, a residential cul-de-sac with a 100km/h speed limit at present, will have a 50km/h limit posted.

Speeding was not a factor in the January accident, says Martin.

'If they were both doing 80km/h, which will be the posted speed out there, I still don't think it is a survivable crash,” says Martin.

'I think even at 60-70km/h the chances of survival are remote because it was head on.”

The northern end of Oropi Road was on the list of streets to have speed limits reviewed before the January crash.

The list was compiled in October/November 2010, says Martin.

'The fatal crash and subsequent petition gave additional weight behind the argument to lower the limit.

'We still had to go through a process with NZTA and the police and look at all the speed limit rules.”

Mount Maunganui changes

Tauranga City Council city transportation manager Martin Parkes says the changes to speed limits at Mount Maunganui follow a successful trial of a 30km/h zone at the northern end of Marine Parade.

The changes are to reduce the speed limit to 30km/h for all streets at Mount Maunganui north of Banks Avenue.

Martin says speed surveys show that traffic in these streets already travels at speeds closer to 30km/h than 50km/h.

A second change in that part of the city is to reduce the Totara Street speed limit to 60km/h from 70km/h.

This decision was made because of the increasingly built-up nature of the roadsides in what were formerly semi rural areas.

Other speed limit changes include variable 40km/h zones outside the Papamoa Primary School and outside Bethlehem College.