12 April 2012

Woden and Gungahlin to keep their 40 zones. Belco, Tuggers and Civic to follow

| johnboy
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The ACT Government never met a trial it didn’t like.

So it should come as no suprise that Chief Minister Gallagher has announced the trial of 40 zones in Woden and Gungahlin is to be made permanent.

ACT Chief Minister and Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Katy Gallagher, today announced that the 40 kilometre per hour (km/h) speed limit will be retained in Woden and Gungahlin town centres following the six-month trial which has proven successful and supported by the public.

“The consultation, which included an online survey as well as feedback from shoppers and traders, indicated that three-quarters of the community (74% per cent for Woden and 78% per cent for Gungahlin) supported the reduced speed limit on a permanent basis,” the Chief Minister said.

“Traffic studies in the various streets of the town centres covered by the trial found that average travelling speeds are now at or below 40 km/. Significant speed reductions of up to 10 km/h in Woden and 16 km/h in Gungahlin were achieved in locations where traffic calming measures, such as speed humps, were implemented. This is a significant improvement to cyclist and pedestrian safety.

“There was general acceptance of the boundaries of the trial areas and of the speed limit being reduced 24 hours per day, seven days a week. Some people have asked for the boundaries of the trial to be extended which is something the ACT Government will consider.

Having bedded down these changes Civic, Belconnen and Tuggeranong town centres are now on the table.

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Yurgle_the_Yeti12:21 pm 13 Apr 12

dtc said :

Still, the root cause is often that the lights are badly timed, and that could be fixed. There are plenty of intersections where pedestrians still have a green light despite cars also having a green turning light.

When you say “badly timed” I think you really mean that the system doesn’t give a bugger about pedestrian delay. They are called traffic signals for a reason.

Having said that, if you see a green turning arrow and a conflicting pedestrian movement, report it to TAMS. If you see a round green light and a potentially conflicting pedestrian movement, give way to pedestrians.

Traffic lights are typically carefully set up so that no explicit conflicts are allowed. If you see one, report it.

screaming banshee9:59 pm 12 Apr 12

dtc said :

c_c said :

Favourite was just last week, a stream of people crossing Northbourne against the red pedestrian light, forcing traffic to stop and honk them out of the way.

This is because you can’t legally cross Northbourne on one set of lights (if you are going towards Civic), and no one is willing to wait 5 minutes at the lights to do so.

Actually you can, you just have to be on the right side of the intersection, from memory at Barry drive/northbourne, eastbound you can do in one go on the northern side and westbound on the southern side. Given the basic priority structure is the same on all of those intersections, you just need to know which side of the road to be on.

“The ACT Government never met a trial it didn’t like.”

Disagree, I think they may have something to say if we trial having the lib’s in power for a few years.
From the ones I saw in Woden, I don’t ever remember even doing 50km/h along them, let alone the 60km/h they used to be. They where all relatively short sections of roads, which had to accelerated to 50km/h, you’d then need to start breaking pretty much straight away. Plus there is a host of dangers just waiting to step out in front of your car without looking.

I’ve got no problems reducing speed limits on roads like that…

Gungahlin Al9:15 pm 12 Apr 12

m_ratt said :

As far as I am aware, the only new speed bumps in Gungahlin are outside the College, and as they’re within a few dozen metres of the traffic lights, there should be no pedestrians crossing there anyway.
In fact, they’ve resulted in more traffic crossing doublewhite lines to go around/between them.

40km/h doesn’t solve the stupidity of Flemington Road funneling into a busy pedestrian area, nor does it actually reduce the speed of traffic down Hibberson, as for the most part 40k/h was the highest practical speed possible.

Just close Hibberson between Gozzard and Hinder, turn it into a pedestrian mall and be done with it.
Leave Gungahlin Place open for disability parking and loading bays and deny access to general traffic. ‘Problem’ solved.

Pretty close to what I’ve been saying to the ACT Government for several years now. Except I favour a shared zone rather than mall. Malls have security problems at night. Shared zones give the best of both worlds.

As to the 40kph trial, it was already 40kph in Hibberson St, so the extension to a couple of adjoining streets has had negligible effect on us.

And DTC? Yeah why don’t we do the same thing for Bunda Street. I have no sympathy for anyone who tries to drive through there during a weekday and finds themselves stuck at a zebra crossing for 5 minutes. It’s an easy problem to fix – just don’t drive there.

The constant criticism of Labor Govts, are the reason this site is feral.

The Feral are jack boot Johnnys little working class battlers…blah…blah.

This is good decision, and looking forward to seeing the bogans down Tuggeranong put in their place.

As far as I am aware, the only new speed bumps in Gungahlin are outside the College, and as they’re within a few dozen metres of the traffic lights, there should be no pedestrians crossing there anyway.
In fact, they’ve resulted in more traffic crossing doublewhite lines to go around/between them.

40km/h doesn’t solve the stupidity of Flemington Road funneling into a busy pedestrian area, nor does it actually reduce the speed of traffic down Hibberson, as for the most part 40k/h was the highest practical speed possible.

Just close Hibberson between Gozzard and Hinder, turn it into a pedestrian mall and be done with it.
Leave Gungahlin Place open for disability parking and loading bays and deny access to general traffic. ‘Problem’ solved.

c_c said :

Favourite was just last week, a stream of people crossing Northbourne against the red pedestrian light, forcing traffic to stop and honk them out of the way.

This is because you can’t legally cross Northbourne on one set of lights (if you are going towards Civic), and no one is willing to wait 5 minutes at the lights to do so. So they cross against the red. Then people not paying attention see someone cross and just cross themselves, not realising the light is still red or looking for cars. I’m surprised there arent many more accidents.

Still, the root cause is often that the lights are badly timed, and that could be fixed. There are plenty of intersections where pedestrians still have a green light despite cars also having a green turning light.

So how come no one has raised the ‘lets close Bunda Street in Civic’ (or make it one way/open outside 9am – 5pm) argument. Closing the road would reduce speed limits

I don’t know anywhere in the Civic, Woden or Tuggeranong CBDs where you can get up above 40 anyway.

Having said that, it’s time to start getting tough on pedestrians. The Police never do anything about them, even when they do stuff plainly illegal and dangerous right in front of them.

Favourite was just last week, a stream of people crossing Northbourne against the red pedestrian light, forcing traffic to stop and honk them out of the way.

Felix the Cat4:11 pm 12 Apr 12

It depends what roads around Belconnen are going to be 40km/h. Belconnen TC is a much larger place than Gungahlin TC and to make all of the streets 40km/h would be silly IMO.

“The ACT Government never met a trial it didn’t like.”

What government does?

In this case though, it’s probably a good thing. If you’re going faster than 40 kph around Belconnen Mall you’re probably going too fast regardless of the speed limit.

Isnt Civic 40km/h anyway? Well, the one and a 1/2 roads that go through Civic

60kph in a shopping area is way too fast. I’m very pleased that things will soon be slowing down around Belconnen town.

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