After seven years of one Melbourne suburb trialling the lower speed limits in high-pedestrian areas, the State Government has only now allowed legal changes to be made.
Victoria has enacted a new speed limit law that allows local councils to reduce their speeds to 30km/h in school zones and city streets as the State Government has recently updated its Speed Zoning Policy.
The City of Yarra has been trialling the 30km/h speed limit in Fitzroy and Collingwood since 2018, and expanded the trial May 2024 in other high pedestrian areas, and now the Victorian government has updated its speed laws.
While speed limits are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, Transport Victoria highlights the importance of these reduced speeds.
It explains that a pedestrian hit by a car travelling at 30km/h has a 90 per cent chance of survival, and as speed increases, so too does kinetic energy, and chances drop to 60 per cent at 40km/h, and merely 10 per cent at 50km/h.
The areas that may merit reducing speeds are “where vehicles mix with people walking, cycling or using other forms of transport”.
“This could include local streets with high pedestrian numbers, activity centres and some school zones,” the latest policy says.
Yarra City was trialling these speed limits for seven years because they could not legally change it until now, per the state government's Speed Zoning Policy.
Yarra City Council said its going to work with the community in the continuation of 30km/h speed limits.
It also stated that the Victorian Government’s decision comes in light of Yarra’s trial and advocacy for slower speeds.
It has been reported that a few suburbs in New South Wales, including Manly, have also reduced speeds to 30km/h, which made it NSW's slowest town centre at the time.
There have been no reports yet of other councils following suit, but the government only recently and quietly updated its policy.
Stephen Jolly, Mayor of Yarra City Council said in a media statement that the council was glad to inspire widespread change.
“The Victorian Government knows that this limit saves lives – it has seen the data. And now pedestrians and road users more broadly will be safer as result from any new 30km/h zone,” Jolly said.
Ilana is a Melbourne-based journalist who was previously a copywriter in the Big Apple. Having moved to Melbourne for her Master of Journalism, she has written articles about food, farm machinery, fashion, and now the fast and furious. Her dream car has been a Mini Cooper since the fifth grade, eyeing its style and petite size.
