Traffic Safety and Road Use Bylaw Review
Tell us what you think about the proposed changes to our Traffic Safety and Road Use Bylaw
Consultation closed: 4pm, Friday 16th December 2022
Manawatu District Council manages 1,362km of sealed and unsealed roads throughout our district – enough to stretch from Auckland to Twizel!
With such a large road network to manage, it’s important that Council has the ability to put measures in place to keep our district moving, and everyone who uses the roads safe.
Our existing bylaw – the Traffic Safety and Road Use Bylaw 2015 (PDF file, 1.9 MB) – needs to be reviewed, so we took this opportunity to review any risks which may have become apparent in the last 7 years, and include measures which would allow us to address these risks in the new bylaw.
We’ve also tried to simplify the bylaw to help to ensure the outcomes Council are trying to achieve are clearer to the community, and also so we are not repeating provisions already included within Central Government legislation, such as how Council set speed limits on the district's roads.
We’ve broken the proposals into the following five categories:
- Roading and traffic controls
- Parking
- Stock on road and stock underpasses
- Vehicle crossings (dropped kerb driveways)
- Roadside grazing and tethering
To find out more about the proposed changes in each of the categories, click on the tabs below.
Ensuring Council can enforce these changes
We have included proposed powers for Council to:
- remove or cause to be removed (by towing) any vehicle parked on any road or parking place which is breach of the rules set out in our bylaw
- remove or cause to be removed (by towing) any item or thing from the road or parking place which may endanger the safety of road users, or cause damage to the road.
Also included in the proposed bylaw is that any person in breach of the bylaw commits an offence and may be liable for any applicable penalty provided for in the Land Transport Act 1998 and the Local Government Act 2002.
We welcome your feedback on the addition of these proposed powers designed to help enforce the new rules.
Useful documents
High Volume Rural Connection Routes Map (interactive)
Roadside Grazing Temporary Fencing Standard (PDF file, 130.6 KB)
What do you think?
We’re keen to hear feedback about our proposals from as many people as possible. Most of us use the Manawatu road network everyday, so it really does have a big impact on our lives.
We invite you to let us know what you think – whether you’re in favour of the proposals, or have any concerns or alternative ideas – via our formal submission process.
Hearings
If you’re keen to come and talk to our Councillors in person about the proposed additions to the bylaw, you can come to what’s called a Hearing sometime in early February. You can let us know if you’d like to speak at a Hearing on your submission form.