By Andrew Bydder, Hamilton City Councillor
When Hamilton City Council began its Waka Kotahi-subsidised rollout of speed bumps, raised intersections, and in-lane bus stops for so-called ‘traffic calming’, many road-users were not calmed by the process. The lack of official public consultation resulted in a massive amount of unofficial public feedback criticising the undemocratic decision-making and the design of the work. A common refrain was concern over the impact the speed bumps would have on emergency services.
Council staff referred to consultation with Fire & Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) that supported the planned work. We now know that council staff had received extremely negative feedback from frontline firefighters, but rejected this because the council could simply get whatever it wanted from FENZ management. The managers were under pressure from the Labour government to support the Waka Kotahi roading agenda or face funding cuts.
The problem was not unique to Hamilton. Waka Kotahi was driving this across the country.
Firefighter whistleblowers have documented the delays in responding to emergencies, the damage to fire appliances (they can’t get to fires if the trucks are out of action), and the real impact on survival outcomes caused by late arrival.
While Councillors Wilson, Taylor, Donovan, Naidoo-Rauf, Pike, MacIndoe and I have been successful in stopping new speed bumps going ahead, it is clearly necessary to have a review of the existing speed bumps. Some may need to be removed, and others modified. The process that allowed them to happen should also be discussed publicly in the interests of full transparency.
Sadly, we lost a vote for a review process to be led by frontline firefighters on 5 March 2024. The Mayor argued against my proposal because she is having meetings with FENZ management about new projects. This argument was misleading. Her meetings are with people that are part of the problem, and she is not covering the existing speed bumps. At 7 against 7, the Deputy Mayor, Angela O’Leary used her casting vote (as chair of the meeting) to oppose the review.
I am asking for the public to stand up about this. It was public pressure that allowed my fellow councillors to revoke new speed bumps, so, with your support, we can do it again.
Here is an email sent directly to all councillors about the impact of delays on real people. The council has used traffic safety as their main argument to support anti-car actions. This email shows overall safety is suffering.
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