Aucklanders are not happy with the news more than 1600 roads are having their speed limits lowered - some suggesting it is "madness".
On Thursday, Auckland Transport (AT) announced 19 percent of the city's roads will have their speed limits reduced to increase safety and lower harm.
The changes are mainly focused around schools, rural marae, rural roads, town centre roads and residential roads.
Some of the most extreme cuts will see speed limits dropped from 50km/h to 10km/h. Meanwhile, others are dropping from 100km/h to 40km/h.
The roads dropping to 10km/h are all in New Lynn and include McCorquindale Ln and McCrae Way which are both dropping from 50km/h.
Totara Ave is also dropping from 50km/h to just 10km/h between Great North Rd and McCorquindale Ln. The next slowest new limit is Shelly Beach Pde between Pah Rd and the eastern end of the road, which is dropping from 50km/h to just 20km/h.
Many other roads across the city are dropping from 50km/h to 30km/h while a huge number of 100km/h roads are changing to 60, 50 or even 40km/h.
The impacted roads are spread across the city and include areas in the central city, North Shore and west and south Auckland.
But the changes haven't gone down well with National's Transport spokesperson Simeon Brown, also the Pakuranga MP, saying it is going to make congestion worse than it already is for New Zealand's biggest city.
"Congestion issues in Auckland have long hindered the ability of people to get around and get things done, costing the city's economy around $1.3 billion a year and having a major impact on our productivity," Brown said.
He said National supports temporary speed reductions around schools during pick up and drop off but a blanket response will "just slow people down".
"The reality is that speed is just one factor when it comes to traffic accidents and things like driver inattention or inexperience and poor road maintenance are just as significant."
He's not the only one who isn't impressed. Mayoral candidate Craig Lord also weighed in tweeting simply, "Auckland Transport is out of control".
And it seems everyday Kiwis aren't impressed either with many sharing their frustration online.
"May as well walk," one person said while another questioned whether people would even follow the rules anyway.
"That's just ridiculous! If everyone kept to speed limits as they are now there would be less (sic) accidents, what makes you think they'll comply with the new speed limits?" they said.
"Madness," another person stated.
Another person said it was "nearly impossible" to drive 10km/h.
"What a joke!" another added.
But not everyone was against the changes with one person supporting lower speed limits for the central city.
"Definitely in the city for sure. So many nutty drivers there," they said.
AT has also defended the changes. Programme director Nathan Cammock told AM on Friday more than half of the submissions they got supported the changes.
Cammock said most of the roads which are having their speed limits lowered are dangerous or close to schools.
He said the changes are aimed at improving safety on the city's roads and speed is a major factor in serious crashes across the country.
"Speed is a major factor to road trauma and that's similar in Auckland, so around 70 percent of crashes in Auckland and injuries have speed as a factor.
"On these specific roads, the roads where we see the best benefits for speed reductions and tailoring speed limits are the traditional 100km/h and 50km/h in our rural areas. Where we have made changes in the past those fatalities in those rural areas have dropped by half so we are hoping that will be the same for these changes."
But Cammock couldn't reveal exactly how many injuries or crashes had happened on the affected roads in the past year.
"It's not just about focusing on those especially high-risk roads, they are a focus but we are also really trying to lean into where there is community demand for changes like around my local school where there may not have been historical crashes but we know speed is a factor and speed makes people feel unsafe."
He said AT is expecting the changes to reduce crashes and deaths though.
"On the roads where we have approved changes, we are expecting about 15 deaths or serious injuries, really serious road trauma. We are expecting about 15 people to not have that trauma as a result of these changes and we are expecting that every year into the future."
He said the changes, on average, will add about five minutes per hour of the journey in the rural areas.
"In urban areas, some of the travel time is a little bit slower, maybe a couple of percent. Some of it is a little bit faster when speed limits are dropped because people tend to drive a lot smoother so you get less acceleration and braking and you get more people travelling more consistently.
"In the rural areas... typically you can expect the speed changes to add five minutes per hour of the journey so it's about six to eight percent so there is a little bit of a tradeoff for having a lot of lives saved in our rural areas."
A full list of the changes can be found here.
