Hastings council does u-turn on disputed 70kmh limit
Hastings District Council says the signposted speed limit of 70kmh on Maraekakaho Rd is unenforceable. NZTA disagrees.
The sign says you're in a 70kmh zone, but the local council said it was wrong and had been for five years.
Turns out it was the council that was wrong, and on Thursday it withdrew its contention that the road was actually a 100kmh zone despite the sign.
As Maraekakaho Road leaves Hastings heading west, it goes from being a 50kmh zone to a 70kmh zone, which runs for about 310 metres before becoming 100kmh. This bit of road used to be part of SH50A before the highway designation was transferred to the Napier-Hastings expressway in August 2013, at which time the road was transferred to Hastings District Council.
The stretch of road in question is the 70kmh zone of Maraekakaho Rd, in either direction of the York Rd interesection.
But the council has never included the 70kmh limit in a bylaw.
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On Tuesday a council spokeswoman told Stuff that it was council's view that because there had never been a bylaw put in place the 70kmh speed limit had actually been unenforceable and that motorists were entitled to drive at 100kmh here.
The 70kmh sign on Maraekakaho Rd, Hastings, has been in place since the road was still part of SH50A in 2013.
The spokeswoman said it was unclear how this anomaly came about and it had only come to light in a recent internal audit.
This situation differs from the issue addressed by the Land Transport (Speed Limits Validation and Other Matters) Act in 2015. The Act related to instances where existing bylaws had not been technically valid. The Maraekakaho Road case involves a situation where a bylaw had never been put in place.
But on Thursday a New Zealand Transport Agency spokesman said its legal opinion was that the 70kmh limit had been set by an NZTA bylaw in 2010 when the road was still part of a State Highway, and this bylaw would only cease to exist if it was revoked by NZTA or quashed as a result of an application to the High Court.
"The bylaw has not been quashed or revoked and replaced by a [Hastings District Council] bylaw and therefore continues in force," the spokesman said.
There was consequently no need to amend the 2015 Act to avoid retrospective cancelling of any speeding tickets issued in the zone.
But there was a catch. The NZTA bylaw applied to just a 200m stretch of the road, but the sign-posted area covered about 310m.
The NZTA spokesman said that any area not covered by the NZTA bylaw or a council bylaw would come under the rural default limit of 100kmh.
Later on Thursday the council said it had changed its mind and having received the legal advice from NZTA it believed the 70kmh area did have legal status.
"Council is pleased to have received that advice," the spokeswoman said.
The council has this week released proposed changes to its speed bylaws on various roads in the district.
The irony of the agency's position on Maraekakaho Road is that it has refused council's request for permission to formalise a 70kmh bylaw for this part of Maraekakaho Road, or allow it to remain at 70km for two years while the council consulted the public and reviewed the limit.
The agency told the council that only it could adopt either a 60kmh or 80kmh zone. The council is expected to discuss the matter at its meeting on Friday.
Road policing national manager Inspector Peter McKennie said road users were obliged to comply with the 70kmh limit.
- Stuff
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