Speed limits around shopping centres, dining precincts will drop to 40km/h

THE state’s peak motoring group has slammed a move from Brisbane City Council to slash speed limits around suburban shopping and dining precincts to 40km/h.

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THE state’s peak motoring group has slammed a move from Brisbane City Council to slash speed limits around suburban shopping and dining precincts to 40km/h.

RACQ spokesman Paul Turner described it as a knee-jerk reaction which may not save a single life.

“It seems to be a quick and cheap solution to a complex problem, and not necessarily the right one,” he said.

“While we’ve supported the change to 40km/h on Ann Street in the CBD, we’d need to see hard evidence of the effects of speed on incidents involving pedestrians in these shopping precincts before we would endorse them.”

Speeds around Brisbane suburban shopping and dining precincts will be dropped to 40km/h. Picture: Ian Currie

Mr Turner accused the Brisbane City of “jumping on the bandwagon of changing a few speed signs”, criticising them for their lack of consultation on the changes.

“If BCC is serious about pedestrian and cyclist safety, they need to do more than put up a few signs, and should be prepared to stump up some cash,” he said.

“It’s far better to prevent the incident happening in the first place, than to have it occur at a slower speed.”

The Courier-Mail revealed overnight that the council would be introducing 40km/h slow zones around dozens of suburban shopping and dining precincts in an effort to protect pedestrians and cyclists.

SPEED LIMITS TO BE CUT NEAR SUBURBAN SHOPPING PRECINCTS

SPEED limits around dozens of suburban shopping and dining precincts in Brisbane will be slashed to 40km/h as the council pushes ahead with its plans to protect pedestrians and cyclists.

The Courier-Mail can reveal the bold new measure will be rolled out in the coming months with shopping precincts in Sunnybank and Stones Corner to be among the first affected.

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It is understood the Queensland-first move could also be implemented around some of the Brisbane’s biggest shopping centres, like Indooroopilly and Chermside.

Unlike 40km/h school zones that only operate during certain hours on school days, the council’s new shopping centre slow zones will be in force 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Stones Corner will be one of the first precincts to get a speed cut to 40km/h. Picture: AAP/Steve Pohlner

The moves comes just days after The Courier-Mail revealed the speed limit on Ann St in the CBD would also be reduced to 40km/h.

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said the council would now be working with the State Government to seek approval for the changes.

“The zones will be prioritised in areas where traffic-light pedestrian crossings are not viable, or where people are … attempting to cross the road dangerously, without pedestrian crossings,” he said.

“Safety issues are not confined to the inner-city and are occurring at a range of locations in the suburbs where there are high volumes of people walking across streets outside of formal pedestrian crossings.”

Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk says the speed limit drop is in response to a series of pedestrian incidents across the city. Picture: AAP/Glenn Hunt

Cr Quirk said evidence from the council’s pedestrian safety review had found pedestrian-related accidents in the suburbs were largely due to inattention and impatience.

The first series of safety zones will be rolled out in shopping precincts on Oxley Rd at Corinda, Old Cleveland Rd in Stones Corner as well as Sunnybank, where pedestrians have recently been hospitalised following crashes.

The dedicated 40km/h zones will be marked by high-visibility signage and road markings, with the council expected to announce dozens of further sites.

The council’s interim report into their pedestrian safety review is set to be handed down this week.

Earlier this week, Brisbane City Council also revealed it would introduce several new crossings in the CBD in an effort to discourage pedestrians from walking into the traffic.