The number of fatal crashes on our local road network has progressively reduced over the past 15 years, but there is always more work to do to as traffic conditions evolve in a growing city.
Tauranga City Council and Western Bay of Plenty District Council share road safety co-ordinators who are responsible for implementing and managing core road safety campaigns in the sub-region.
Funding for the various road safety campaigns and for the Travel Safe programmes comes from the New Zealand Transport Agency with contributions from both Tauranga City Council, Western Bay of Plenty District Council and other partners.
We are also a member of the Tauranga and Western Bay Joint Road Safety Committee along with Western Bay of Plenty District Council, Bay of Plenty Regional Council and the NZ Police. This group promotes road safety initiatives across both Tauranga City Council and Western Bay of Plenty Council.
New Zealand’s “Safer Journeys” is a strategy designed to guide New Zealand's efforts to improve road safety. Its vision is for “A safe road system increasingly free of death and serious injury”
To achieve this it takes a Safe System approach, looking across the entire road system to improve safety by creating safer roads and roadsides, safer speeds, safer vehicles and safer road use.
Road Safety efforts for Tauranga City and the Western Bay of Plenty is focused on priority areas where there is the most potential to reduce death and serious injury. The identified areas of risk include:
- alcohol/drug impaired driving
- safer speeds
- young drivers
- high risk intersections
- safer cycling and
- motorcycling.
To view ‘Safer Journeys’ and associated action plans visit the Safer Journeys website
This is the overall road safety strategy for all councils to work towards.
Safety Improvements Programme
For the on-going Safety Improvements Programme, Tauranga City Council works together with Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency. This programme covers transport projects under $1 million that have been identified as a safety concern by the community, NZ Police and council. Think of new pedestrian crossings, minor intersection changes such as a new island or changes to the width of the road, and reducing speeds through traffic calming such as speed humps and small roundabouts.