See map of state’s 30km/h zones and where more are planned here

A council will vote on Tuesday whether to make almost all of two key Melbourne suburbs a 30km/h speed zone. And it appears it has the Allan Labor government’s support.

The Victorian Government supports more 30km/h speed zones being introduced throughout the state, to reduce deaths and serious injuries on our roads.

It comes as one key Melbourne council pushes the government to make 30km/h “the standard speed limit” in busy streets.

The City of Yarra will, on Tuesday, November 14, vote whether to expand its current 30km/h speed zone to include new areas covering southern parts of Fitzroy and Collingwood, from Johnston Street to Victoria Parade — starting from early next year.

The existing 30k zone is bounded by Alexandra Pde, Johnston, Hoddle and Nicholson streets, but excludes Brunswick and Smith streets.

“Yarra City Council is proud to be championing safety in our community with a 30km/h speed limit. There is clear evidence that slower travel speeds save lives,” a spokesperson said.

“We want to make our streets safer for everyone to enjoy, whether you are walking, driving or cycling. 30km/h can have a huge benefit, for comparatively little inconvenience, and we think it’s worth implementing.

“Along with testing the 30km/h speed limit in the City of Yarra, council is advocating to the Victoria Government to make 30km/h a standard speed limit for busy local streets.”

Head of Road Safety Victoria Marcelo Vidales told the Herald Sun: “We are supporting local councils to trial 30km/h speed zones in areas where there are a lot of vulnerable road users like pedestrians and cyclists — to see if lives can be saved with a small decrease in speed.”

The government was open to considering more trials of 30 km/h speed zones, in areas where pedestrians, cyclists and cars mixed, he said.

These would be decided on a case-by-case basis, after councils submitted their proposals to the state government for approval.

The effectiveness of the councils’ trials would then be monitored and evaluated to decide if the speed limit should be made permanent, Mr Vidales said.

The state government had already worked alongside councils for the introduction of 30 km/h trials in the City of Yarra (for Collingwood and Fitzroy), Mildura Rural City Council and the Whitehorse City Council, he said.

In Whitehorse, speed limits on all downtown streets are 40 km/h and speed limits in school and playground zones 30km/h.

Speed zones of 30 km/h had also been introduced in “targeted Victorian locations” including Swanston St in Melbourne’s CBD, Falls Creek, Port Campbell, Point Nepean National Park, Walhalla historic township, Young St, Frankston and Liebig St, Warrnambool, the state government said.

A plan to make the state’s smallest municipality of Queenscliff, on the Bellarine Peninsula, the country’s first ever all 30km/h speed zone was recently shelved amid a groundswell of community anger.

Nearly 80 per cent of Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale residents objected to the council’s Draft Active Transport Strategy’s plan that included the 30km/h proposal, with a petition opposing the trial attracting thousands of signatures.

Pedestrian advocacy group Victoria Walks is also pushing for a reduction in speed limits across the state’s municipalities.

Fitzroy could become almost all a 30km/h zone. Picture: Ian Currie

Mildura’s main drag is already trialling 30km. Picture: Visit Victoria

The group’s executive officer Dr Ben Rossiter said there had been, and remained, “a lot of councils” interested in introducing 30km/h speed limits.

But he said they often found it challenging to press ahead due the government’s speed zone guidelines that mandated a trial had to be conducted first.

“Safer speeds on local streets will give people more travel options by making walking safer, easier and more appealing than driving for short trips,” Dr Rossiter said.

“We know Victorians are saying they want to have safer speed limits in neighbourhood streets, to make it easy to walk to a shop, schools and public transport.”

He said “a large chunk” of Victorians wanted lower speed limits on local roads, but “a small, noisy minority” often objected and stopped them being introduced.

Victoria was behind the rest of the world in introducing 30km/h speed limits widely, Dr Rossiter said.

“The whole world is moving towards 30k in busy walking areas, and that’s where we need to be,” he said, adding New Zealand was now rolling them out in many of its city centres.

A default speed zone of 30km/h was also common in cities and towns across Great Britain, the Netherlands, Brussels and in other parts of Europe, as well as in parts of the United States, Dr Rossiter said.

In Wales, where most residential area speed limits were recently reduced to 20mph — or 32 km/h — there has been backlash from many drivers and delivery companies, but proponents say evidence shows the reduced limits aren’t slowing most down trips by much.

A Victorian government spokesperson said it supported 30 km/h because slower cars could save lives.

Data showed the chances of a pedestrian surviving being hit by car was much greater when the car was travelling at 30 rather than 50km/h, she said.

“Under Victoria’s Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030, the state’s road safety partners are working to increase safety for those who are most vulnerable on our roads. One way we can do that is by looking at speed limits,” the spokeswoman said.

“The internationally accepted speed to greatly reduce the chances of people walking or cycling from being killed or seriously injured is 30km/h.”