Melbourne council slashes speed limit to 30km/h

Inner-city municipality Yarra Council is conducting a trial of 30km/h speed limit zones for cars and commercial vehicles in what's believed to be an Australian first.

On a dedicated website, the council points to the existing danger posed to pedestrians and cyclists from cars travelling at the current limit of 40km/h. The council argues that a pedestrian or cyclist collected by a car travelling at 30km/h is "at least twice as likely to survive", compared with an impact speed of 40km/h.

Commencing from late September, the 12-month trial in the Melbourne suburbs of Collingwood and Fitzroy is estimated to cost $261,500, with the council contributing just $25,000. The balance will be funded by the Transport Accident Commission.

Eight kilometres of roads will be subject to the trial, in an area bounded by Alexandra Parade, Hoddle, Johnston and Nicholson Streets.

With the exception of traffic on Wellington Street, which is a heavily used through road from Alexandra Parade to Victoria Street, the lower speed limit is unlikely to have much impact on commuting times.

Yarra Council has advised that other through roads in the area – Smith Street and Brunswick Street (pictured) – are exempt from the 30km/h limit, which can be enforced by Victoria Police within weeks of the new limit being imposed. If the trial is successful the speed limit may be adopted in other parts of Melbourne.

In a report published in 'The Age', Yarra City mayor Daniel Nguyen revealed that the trial was specifically aimed at improving safety for pedestrians and cyclists.

"We're looking at seeing if the trial will change driver behaviour and whether pedestrians and cyclists can reclaim the streets a little bit," Nguyen was quoted as saying in the report.

"The study area has schools, kindergartens, there are a lot of young people moving in the area, we want to go back to a day where people could actively use their streets and feel safe having your kids walking to school."

The council has received backing from Victoria Walks, with that organisation's Executive Officer, Ben Rossiter, anticipating that the trial will not only be successful, the initiative will spread to other municipal areas.

"Neighbourhoods with 30km/h speeds are safer and more social as people are able to be out talking with other locals, and there are fewer road crashes. They are happy, liveable neighbourhoods and so we expect more communities will want 30km/h streets when the trial is finished," Rossiter says.

But not everyone is convinced, as The Age also reports.

"We think the TAC's funding would be better spent on making high speed country roads safer, or providing separated bicycle lanes and paths along busy arterial roads," says the RACV's mobility advocacy manager Dave Jones.

Picture courtesy of Mat Connolley/Wikimedia Commons