Victoria’s draft 30-year infrastructure strategy 2025-2055 contains several recommendations directly targeting road safety improvement. Among these, recommendation #14 is to ‘make local streets safer for children and communities’. This includes the introduction of 30km/h speed limits on local streets, with priority treatment for places frequented by children such as schools, playgrounds and childcare facilities. The recommended reductions would apply to streets with current limits of up to 50km/h, but not to roads with higher speed limits.
Proven safety benefits
The safety benefits of lower speed limits are clear and have long been demonstrated in rigorous Australian and international research. Studies cited in the draft strategy show the relationship between vehicle impact speeds and pedestrian survival rates, where the chance of death is reduced by 75% for 30km/h versus 50km/h impact speeds.
The research also shows that lower speed limits have little effect on car travel times. 30km/h speed limits on local streets have already been introduced in some inner Melbourne suburbs.
Health and environmental benefits
AAs well as safety benefits, slower local streets are expected to encourage more active travel such as walking and cycling, improving the overall health and fitness of local communities. Reduced car use also results in lower greenhouse gas emissions and can reduce demand for road maintenance activities, funding for which can be transferred to improving active travel infrastructure.