Where Adelaide’s councils have cut speed limits to slow cars

Nearly all of Adelaide’s councils have cut speed limits in the past six years – or are planning to – as the city slows down. See which streets have been hit and take our poll.

South Australia’s metropolitan councils are introducing area-wide 40km/h speed limits. Picture: Richard Walker

Fifteen of Adelaide’s 17 metro councils have put significant speed limit cuts into place since 2019, or are planning to, a survey has found.

The metro councils are introducing area-wide 40km/h speed limits, turning Adelaide into a slower city as they try to make local streets safer, while others are pushing for 30km/h or even 10km/h shared pedestrian zones, such as near Jetty Rd.

Six councils have already enacted speed limit reductions affecting entire areas or suburbs, including Burnside, Prospect, Onkaparinga, Norwood Payneham & St Peters, Charles Sturt and Unley.

The latter three are planning to expand their slow zones, while four more have proposed or planned to join the list, including Campbelltown, Mitcham, Walkerville and West Torrens. Tea Tree Gully has no plans and Marion did not reply.

Adelaide City councillor Henry Davis, who campaigned against the city council’s proposed 30km/h blanket speed limit before it was rejected in January, said the trend of reducing speed limits was a “serious misstep by all councils”.

“Five extra minutes every day over a year is a lot of time,” he said. “It’s a lot of cost to residents, and it makes it harder to live in Adelaide.”

Traffic on Anzac Highway, Adelaide. Picture: Dean Martin

“I suspect that the agenda is to make it impossible to drive so that people will ride their bikes. But Adelaide is not Amsterdam.

“In Amsterdam, more than half of the population live within 2km of the city centre. Adelaide is not like that; our outskirts go 28km out.”

Jamie Mackenzie, a senior research fellow at Adelaide University’s Centre for Automotive Safety Research, defended the trend, saying driving slower on council-owned roads was a small inconvenience that could save someone’s life.

He said research showed the human body could withstand being hit by a car at 30km/h, but the likelihood of death significantly increased at 50km/h. At a speed limit of 40km/h, drivers were more likely to slow down to 30km/h before hitting someone.

An artist's impression of an upgrade to Jetty Road at Glenelg, where the council has proposed cutting the speed limit. Picture: Supplied

“It’s not changing your travel time excessively,” Dr Mackenzie said.

“Going 500m down your local road to get home, we’re talking about mere seconds. In those few seconds, what are you going to do with them?

“Are they worth someone’s life? The life of a child, or one of your family members perhaps? We’re all pedestrians at some point in our life.

“I think it’s a minor inconvenience for a whole lot of gain to society.”

He conceded fewer crashes occurred on local roads, because they were used by fewer drivers.

Earlier this month, Holdfast Bay Council proposed to slash the speed limit from 40km/h to 30km/h on Jetty Rd at Glenelg – Adelaide’s most popular beachside shopping strip. One option proposes dropping the speed limit form 50km/h to 10km/h on part of Colley Terrace near the corner, creating a shared zone for vehicles and pedestrians

In February, Campbelltown voted to engage with DIT to apply for a 40km/h speed limited area bound by several roads including Magill Rd and Darley Rd.

The same month, West Torrens councillors discussed introducing area-wide 40km/h speed limits at Ashford, Keswick, Mile End, Mile End South, Thebarton and Torrensville.

Originally published as Where Adelaide’s councils have cut speed limits to slow cars