7 February 2018

Government considers 40km/h limit in residential areas

| Ian Bushnell
Join the conversation
59

Kill the speed? Government considers reducing speed limits in residential areas.

Reducing the speed limit in residential areas to 40km/h may be on the table as part of Government plans to curb road accidents caused by speeding in the ACT.

The ACT Government has commissioned the Monash University Accident Research Centre to conduct an evaluation of the road safety camera program, including a community survey on the enforcement of speeding laws in the ACT.

Minister for Road Safety Shane Rattenbury said the respondents would be asked about how fast they think people should be allowed to drive without being booked for speeding and how they would feel if the speed limit in residential areas was reduced to 40km/h, among a range of other topics.

“I know this a topic everyone has an opinion on and now is the chance to have your say,” Mr Rattenbury said.

“The evidence is clear—speeding remains a serious cause of death and injury on our roads. We want to know about the community’s awareness of, and attitudes to, our efforts to curb these dangers—and how we can continue to deter people from speeding and running red lights.”

Associate Professor Stuart Newstead from the Monash University Accident Research Centre stressed the importance of community feedback for the evaluation.

“Understanding the ACT community’s knowledge of, and reactions to the road safety camera program is vital to understanding whether the program is delivering the best road safety outcomes for the ACT and to potentially improving the program in the future,” Associate Professor Newstead said.

The community survey is the first stage of the evaluation which has been designed and conducted by Monash University. It takes 5-10 minutes to complete online and answers are all anonymous. The survey is available online at http://bit.ly/actspeedsurvey and closes on 30 March 2018.

A full list of camera sites and operational logs is also available on the Government’s open data website data.act.gov.au.

Join the conversation

59
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest
Capital Retro3:19 pm 09 Feb 18

First time ever yesterday a “radar van” was operating in the 50 kmh limit zone of Bugden Avenue in Fadden.

He would have got at least three Action busses I reckon.

house_husband5:46 am 09 Feb 18

Agree completely. Our evidence based approach to road safety seems to lacking in evidence. From what little you can tell from the official stats, excess speed is responsible for at most a third of crashes in the ACT. Yet it proportionally gets considerably more coverage. It wouldn’t be because it raises revenue and is easy to blame? Nah.

The cat did it6:59 pm 08 Feb 18

I’ve got no problems with such a reduction, but Government would need to demonstrate that there are significant number of accidents in 50kph areas that would be less likely to have occurred if the speed limit was reduced to 40kph.

They should be able to produce the data to support this. Otherwise it will look like just another revenue grab.

Sounds like just another phase of Rattenbury’s war against cars. Yet another idea of his to make cars less attractive to people dressed up with a big dose of “won’t somebody please think of the children”.

Are they going to release any information on the athlon drive average speed camera that disappeared mysteriously never to be seen again.

The only ones wanting 40km/h are cyclists. If developers put in cycle paths in new areaa like was done in older areas thwre woulsnt be a problem. However how manyncycle paths do you see?

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.