More Victorian city streets could see a 30km/h speed limit imposed if the state’s independent infrastructure advisory body has its 30-year plan enacted.
Infrastructure Victoria has released its latest draft 30-year strategy for the state, calling for the government to “reduce speed limits to 30km/h on local streets, starting in places that children often visit including around schools, playgrounds, childcare centres and kindergartens”.
The advisory body has estimated doing so will cost $35 million to $45 million, which includes “changing speed limit policy and working with local governments to install speed limit signs”, with funding to come from state and federal government revenue and road safety programs.
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According to data included in the strategy document, almost 300 children are seriously injured in Australia each year, with a majority of incidents occurring on local roads with 50km/h speed limits.
“Slower speeds make streets safer. They have little effect on travel times by car,” the Infrastructure Victoria document reads.
“A pedestrian hit by a car at 50km/h has an 85 per cent chance of dying, and a 40 per cent chance at 40km/h. At 30km/h, this falls to 10 per cent.
“Some councils already have lower speed limits for safety. For example, the City of Yarra introduced 30km/h zones in the suburbs of Fitzroy and Collingwood.
“The Victorian Government should update its speed limit policy and work with local governments to update speed limit signs to set 30km/h limits, starting with local streets around places that children often visit.
“Schools, playgrounds, childcare centres and kindergartens should all have lower speed limits around them. The current 40km/h speed zone only applies to schools and some other busy areas. The changes should apply to streets with current speed limits of 50km/h or less.”
As mentioned by Infrastructure Victoria, Yarra Council introduced a 30km/h speed limit on some Collingwood and Fitzroy streets in 2018, before expanding its trial in 2024.
In November 2023, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton told ABC Radio Melbourne the 30km/h speed limits were “not the answer” to reducing the state’s road toll, describing the limits as “ridiculous”.
In addition to the speed limit reduction, the advisory body says infrastructure changes could be made to make roads safer for pedestrians.
“Governments can trial upgrades to infrastructure on streets where speeds have been reduced to show how these changes benefit the community,” it says.
The proposal has been welcomed by health experts from Victoria’s Monash University.
“30km/h speed zones are one of the most cost-effective interventions we can use to enhance the safety and liveability of local streets,” said Dr Lauren Pearson, Research Fellow and Equity Lead within the Sustainable Mobility and Safety Research Group in Monash University’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.
“Amid a physical activity and mental health crisis, increasing road trauma rates, and a climate emergency, the need for interventions such as these to enable people to use active mobility (walking and biking) are more important than ever.
“We have seen the effect of these speed zones in places such as Wales, Canada, Scotland, Colombia and across Europe.
“In Toronto, Canada, there was a 67 per cent reduction in serious injuries following implementation of 30km/h speed zones. Similarly in London, fatal and serious injuries dropped by 46 per cent in areas with 30 km/h speeds, with a further eight per cent reduction in adjacent areas.
“Yet, here in Australia, we’re well behind – there are only two areas in Victoria where these have been implemented and they are only on a trial basis.
“We have [a] strong and growing body of evidence for the vast benefits of these interventions, and continued calls for their implementation from not only this report from Infrastructure Victoria, but from a recent road safety parliamentary inquiry, and from the World Health Organization as well.”
In 2024, 33 of the 1306 reported road deaths in Australia occurred on roads with a speed limit of 40km/h or less. 129 deaths were reported on roads with a 50km/h speed limit.
MORE: Even Victoria Police thinks 30km/h speed limits are ‘ridiculous’
