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What you need to know

Road controlling authorities (RCAs) set speed limits for roads under their control. The New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) is the RCA for State highways and local councils are RCAs for local roads. The Land Transport Rule: Setting of Speed Limits sets the framework for how RCAs plan for, consult on and implement speed limit changes on their roads.

On 28 September 2024, the Minister of Transport signed the new Land Transport Rule: Setting of Speed Limits 2024, replacing the 2022 Rule. You can find the new Rule on the NZTA website here:

Land Transport Rule: Setting of Speed Limits 2024 (nzta.govt.nz) 

More details can be found in the following documents: 

Cabinet paper - Land Transport Rule Setting of Speed Limits 2024 Post-Consultation Report Back

Cover briefing - Final Land Transport Rule Setting of Speed Limits 2024

Final Regulatory Impact Statement - Land Transport Rule Setting of Speed Limits 2024

Summary of submissions - Draft Land Transport Rule Setting of Speed Limits 2024

Cabinet Expenditure Committee Regulatory Reform minute - Land Transport Rule Setting of Speed Limits 2024 

The work to date

08
Apr 2022

Cabinet approval

07
Jul 2021

Publicly consulted on a new draft Setting of Speed Limits Rule 2021

Between April and June 2021, the Ministry of Transport and Waka Kotahi publicly consulted on a new draft Setting of Speed Limits Rule 2021. This rule will give effect to the new regulatory framework for speed management and will mandate safer speed limits around schools.

More information
06
Nov 2019–Apr 2022

Legislation being drafted

Implementing the Tackling Unsafe Speeds programme requires changes to the Land Transport Act 1998, the Land Transport Management Act 2003 and the Land Transport Rule: Setting of Speed Limits 2017. 

More information
05
Nov 2019

Programme agreed

Cabinet agreed to the proposed Tackling Unsafe Speeds programme, which will include a framework to improve how councils and Waka Kotahi plan for, consult on and implement speed management changes. It will also mean lowering speed limits around schools and a new approach to safety cameras.

More information and related documents
04
Jul 2019–Aug 2019

Road to Zero strategy consultation

The Government agreed to consult on the new Road to Zero road safety strategy and initial set of actions. One of the initial actions is to introduce a new approach to tackling unsafe speeds.

More information
03
Mar 2019–May 2019

Stakeholder consultation

We undertook targeted consultation on the Tackling Unsafe Speeds proposals with key transport stakeholders including local government.

More information
02
Sep 2018–Nov 2018

Speed Reference Group met

We held workshops with the Speed Reference Group to develop the Tackling Unsafe Speeds proposals. This group was one of the 5 reference groups we worked with as part of developing the Road to Zero road safety strategy.

More information and related documents
01
Apr 2018

Local Government Road Safety Summit held

The Associate Minister of Transport held a 1-day Local Government Road Safety Summit in Wellington for more than 100 senior local government representatives from across New Zealand.

More information

Related work