The NZ Transport Agency is reducing speed limits on State Highway 33 and State Highway 30 near Rotorua to help keep road users safe.

The new permanent speed limits through Paengaroa and between Ōkere Falls and Rotokawa Rd will come into effect from Monday, June 29.

NZTA Regional Relationships director Steve Mutton says that between August and September 2019, NZTA consulted the local community and road user groups on safe and appropriate speed limits to save lives and reduce the number of serious crashes.

Steve says this route is one of the highest risk roads in the Bay of Plenty where five people died and 26 people were seriously injured in crashes on these roads in the 10 years ending in 2018.

'While we are making State Highway 33 safer with improvements like wide centrelines and road safety barriers, lower speed limits are needed.

"Human beings are fallible. We all make mistakes, and we will never eliminate crashes, but speed is a factor in every crash and it's the factor that determines whether you are killed, seriously injured, or walk away from a crash unharmed.

"Mistakes are inevitable, but deaths and serious injuries aren't. Our priority is to make this road safer so that everyone using it can get where they are going safely and reliably,” Steve says.

The current speed limits vary from 100km/h along the rural open road sections to 70km/h through the rural towns of Paengaroa, Okere Falls and Mourea.

According to the NZTA, these speed limits are unsafe when combined with the number of vehicles, including heavy vehicles, driving through areas where people live or are enjoying popular recreational sites.

Speed limit changes for SH30/SH33 Rural Rotorua and Paengaroa:

- SH33 Paengaroa: 70km/h down to 60km/h from 120m north of Lemon Rd to 110m south-west of Partridge Lane.

- SH33 Okere Falls: 100km/h and 70km/h down to 60km/h from 390m north of Trout Pool Rd to 1.57km south of Trout Pool Rd.

- SH33 Okere Falls south to Waipuna Bay: 100km/h down to 80km/h from 1.57km south of Trout Pool Rd to 703m north-east of Hamurana Rd.

- SH33 Waipuna Bay, through Mourea, to Okawa Bay: 100km/h or 70km/h down to 60km/h from 703m north-east of Hamurana Rd to 64m south of Okawa Bay Rd.

- SH33 Okawa Bay to Te Ngae Junction: 100km/h down to 80km/h from 64m south of Okawa Bay Rd to the SH33/SH30 intersection.

- SH30 Te Ngae Junction to Rotokawa Road: 100km/h down to 80km/h from 353m east of the SH33/SH30 intersection to 140m north of Rotokawa Rd.