Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Lawyers for a group seeking to pause the roll out of speed limit increases say the changes are ignoring NZTA's own safety findings.
But counsel for the Crown said millions of dollars were already committed to putting the government's policy into effect.
Advocacy group, Movement were seeking an injunction in the High Court in Wellington on Wednesday to suspend the work to increase the speed limits until its judicial review into the changes could be heard.
Council's risk doubling up on costs if review is successful
Spokesperson for the group, Bevan Woodward said pushing ahead with speed limit increases - ahead of the outcome of the review - risked a doubling up of costs if the action was successful.
"If our judicial review is upheld then councils would - ironically - be required to reverse the government's mandated reversal of safer speed limits. We don't want that to happen, that's why we're here today," Woodward said.
Delays could squander millions
But Lawyer for the Crown, Polly Higbee argued the group had taken too long to apply for the review and to pause now would waste millions.
She said Waka Kotahi (NZTA) had sunk $324,000 into increasing speed limits on five roads and had committed over $1 million to future changes.
She said applying a similar scenario to the country's 72 Road Controlling Authorities showed the multi-million dollar impact of delaying the changes.
"There's already been hundreds of thousands of dollars - likely millions of dollars - incurred. The disruption and the costs that we're being pointed to is also just a necessarily implication of trying to stop a process after it has commenced and the larger the process the larger that those consequences will be," Higbee said.
Increases contrary to safety risks identified by NZTA
Lawyer for Movement, Sally Gepp said NZTA had chosen to ignore their own findings into best safety practices that underlined the original speed reductions made under the previous government.
She said the speed limit reductions were put in place due to specific safety risks identified by the agency.
"NZTA says 'having speed limits set at the correct level for the conditions on specific roads is one of the most important ways we can help people get to where they need to go safely' and it's the reversal of that step - that was done in response to a specific risk - that the applicant seeks to prevent," Gepp said.
Gepp said there were at least 2000 roads yet to be registered for the speed increases.
She said the fact that only a sixth of the country's Road Controlling Authorities had done anything towards the changes showed pausing the work would still be more affordable than pressing on ahead of the review's outcome.
'This is stupid policy that we're having to entertain' - councillor
At a Wellington Council meeting on Wednesday councillor Ben McNulty acknowledged Wellington wasn't going to see the most speed limit reversals, but he still wasn't happy with the rule.
The council was seeking an exemption from the government to avoid having to raise speed limits on Adelaide Road, Rintoul Street and Island Bay Parade.
"I know Auckland are facing a far worse outcome at the moment but - regardless - these three roads are just objectively stupid and this is stupid policy that we're having to entertain today," McNulty said.
Councillor Sarah Free said she couldn't believe the changes were going to be made on Rintoul Street - a popular thoroughfare known for its skinny road design.
"It's just totally the wrong place - in my mind - for it to be put back to 50 [kmh] and I can only hope the government will see some sense in this," Free said.
In Wellington High Court, Justice Paul Radich reserved his decision.
