Meetings and minutes

The Shared Footpaths Group reviewed the issues facing road controlling authorities and footpath users at its first meeting and agreed that research into the pattern of participation and non-participation by groups with greater vulnerability as pedestrians on footpaths shared with other modes was needed to understand the perception of safety and the effect of a change in perceived safety on the life opportunities for such pedestrians.  It was recognised that the proportions of pedestrians with some impairment of mobility, vision or hearing will inevitably increase rapidly over the next half century.  A first stage to research on rates of participation was a count of shared path users that noted every user with a mobility aid, undertaken at several sites around Hamilton. This was followed by further research on the value of participation and of accessibility to the economy and society (The value of accessibility, Locke & Burdett, 2016).

The group made a submission in opposition to the petition of Joanne Clendon to change the Road User Rule to allow children up to the age of 14, accompanying adults, undefined “vulnerable adults” and adults over 65 years of age to ride on footpaths.  It also completed a comparison of footpath regulation across multiple jurisdictions and provided a gap analysis of New Zealand regulations (see Reports below).

Next meeting:

No further meetings of this group are currently planned.

Last meeting:

Previous meetings:

Reports

Research, presentations and related resources

Other resources

Paxster approval – Hamilton City Council has provided as an exemplar a summary of the proposal they received from NZ Post, the process they followed and a copy of the final approval.

Chair

  • Michael Harrison

Contact

  • Wayne Newman (Executive Officer, Research and Guidelines Steering Group)

Members

  • Waitaki District Council – Michael Voss
  • Hamilton City Council – Kirsty Horridge
  • Nelson City Council – Sue McAuley (previously Margaret Parfitt for SASTA)
  • New Plymouth District Council – Nathaniel Benefield
  • Ministry of Transport – Jemima de Lacey
  • Office for Seniors, Ministry of Social Development – Phillipa Townsend/Lee Orchard/Sarah Eames
  • Office for Disability Issues, MSD – Amy Evanson/Paul Dickey
  • Ministry of Health – Martin Dutton
  • Greater Wellington Regional Council – Kate Bevin
  • Wellington City Council – Anna Blomquist representing SASTA
  • Living Streets Aotearoa – Ellen Blake (previously Dr Chris Teo-Sherrell)
  • Blind Foundation – Carina Duke
  • Alzheimers New Zealand – Lisa Beech/Philippa Fletcher
  • Traffic Research Group/Waikato University – Bridget Burdett
  • Waikato University – Prof. Stuart Locke
  • NZ Transport Agency, Road Safety – Trish Rudolph
  • NZ Transport Agency, System Design and Delivery – Gerry Dance
  • CCS Disability Action Waikato – Gerri Pomeroy/Amanda Banks
  • Visual Impairment Charitable Trust Aotearoa – Dr Lynley Hood
  • Cycling Action Network – Will Andrews/Patrick Morgan
  • NZ Police – Jason Eady/Travis Mills