Speed limit could be dropped to 40km/h in Norwood and Kent Town under new council plan

An inner-city council has taken the next step towards a 40km/h speed limit, hearing local roads were used as a “racetrack”. Have your say

Community consultation on dropping an inner-city suburb’s speed limit will begin after council voted unanimously on the plan.

The speed limit could be dropped to 40km/h in Norwood and Kent Town as part of a possible citywide reduction after a new proposal was put to the local council.

There is “justification to pursue the implementation of reduced speed limits in residential streets” in Norwood and Kent Town, except for The Parade West and Osmond Terrace, a motion before Norwood, Payneham & St Peters Council stated.

The council’s traffic and integrated transport manager Gayle Buckby said she hoped to roll out further speed reductions across the district “as quickly as possible” if the proposed changes were well supported.

“We’ll have to see how the consultation process goes,” Miss Buckby said. “If there’s not much support we’ll have to rethink how we do it.”

Cr Sue Whitington expected some residents to reject the proposal. However, she also said some local roads were “used as a racetrack, it’s disgusting”.

“It happens all day every day and all night,” Cr Whitingon said.

Cr Carlo Dottore said it would be a “natural progression” after the council dropped the speed limit in Maylands, Stepney and Evandale in 2019.

There have been 160 crashes involving cyclists and pedestrians within the council area over the past five years and a drop “represents an opportunity to significantly reduce the number of crashes over time”, the council found.

However, other roads that would remain unchanged are those maintained by the transport department, such as Fullarton Rd and Rundle and Flinders streets.

It comes a year after the council floated the idea of a citywide reduction to 40km/h.

Councillors voted 9-4 in April for a traffic management committee investigation, following the introduction of speed reductions in Maylands, Stepney and Evandale in 2019.

However, the motion revealed a change “across the entire city at one time is complex”.

“A constraint or lack of support in one area may preclude implementation in all other areas,” it stated.

“Therefore, it was recommended that a staged approach would be a pragmatic way to enable progress in the short term.”

Norwood, Payneham & St Peters Mayor Robert Bria said a speed limit reduction would help address safety issues confronting cyclists and pedestrians. Picture: Tom Huntley

The suburbs of Norwood and Kent Town were picked first as they would “readily meet some of the requirements set out by the (transport) department”.

However, it also found community acceptance of 40km/h speed limits is “not strong”.

“This is likely to be attributed to a lack of understanding of the safety benefits to all road users and increased liveability for residents,” it stated.

“Community acceptance is likely to increase if widespread education and information is undertaken as part of the community consultation process.”

NP&SP Mayor Robert Bria said safety issues and recent crash data had led to the speed limit proposal.

“It is understandable that inner urban suburbs close to the CBD experience intense traffic issues,” Mr Bria said.