Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece has supported calls for a blanket 30km/h limit across East Melbourne to improve safety and deter motorists from driving through the area’s small streets.
Reece said he had written to Victoria’s Roads Minister Melissa Horne to request the state government consider running consultation on a 30km/h zone in East Melbourne, which is already in place on local streets in nearby Fitzroy and Collingwood.
Greg Bisinella, president of the East Melbourne Group, which wants 30km/h speed limits in the suburb.Credit: Eddie Jim
He said he wanted to avoid people using the suburb as a “rat run”, or driving through small streets to avoid major arterials.
“East Melbourne is notorious for people speeding through suburban streets to get to the MCG or the city,” he said. “Residents have told me they are frustrated by the prevalence of suburban rat-runs, impacting pedestrian safety and creating congestion on neighbourhood streets.”
Reece said that if community feedback favoured the idea, East Melbourne could become “the City of Melbourne’s first 30km/h suburb”.
The World Health Organisation recommends speed be limited to 30km/h on urban streets where cars and pedestrians mix, and the limit is widely used in European cities.
But 30km/h is not a standard speed limit in Victoria and so can only be used in trials with the state Department of Transport and Planning. A handful of trials are taking place statewide including in the City of Yarra across Collingwood and Fitzroy.
The 30km/h speed limit in the City of Yarra.Credit: Jason South
Research shows there is an 85 per cent likelihood a pedestrian or cyclist will be killed if hit by a car at 50km/h, which falls to 40 per cent at 40km/h and 10 per cent at 30km/h.
Greg Bisinella, president of the East Melbourne Group residents association, said his organisation supported a 30km/h limit across the suburb, which emerged during discussions about other traffic-calming measures proposed by the council such as speed bumps.
Bisinella said a lower speed limit could combat chronic rat-running in the area and make it safer and more comfortable for locals to walk and cycle.
“The minimal time that people lose may well save somebody’s life,” he said.
The Department of Transport and Planning said it was in the process of updating its speed zoning policy, which guides the setting of appropriate speed limits on different types of roads and environments.
The new policy will be informed by submissions made to a state government inquiry into road safety last year, which found that it should be easier for local councils to introduce 30km/h speed limits in areas they considered suitable.
“When setting speed limits, we need to carefully balance keeping everyone safe on our roads and keeping people moving,” a Department of Transport and Planning spokesperson said.
Infrastructure Victoria, the state government’s independent adviser, earlier this year called for speed limits to be cut to 30km/h around schools, playgrounds and other areas frequented by children, followed by all suburban streets statewide, to encourage walking, cycling and improve safety while having little effect on travel times.
About seven children were killed in the state every year and nearly 300 were seriously injured, mostly on local streets with 50km/h speed limits, Infrastructure Victoria said at the time.
The 30km/h trial in Fitzroy and Collingwood started on local streets north of Johnston Street in 2018 and was expanded south to Victoria Parade in May 2024. The City of Merri-bek has also proposed a 30km/h trial on local streets in Brunswick, Brunswick East and Coburg.
The City of Melbourne cut speed limits in East Melbourne and Jolimont to 40km/h in 2022 and is gradually applying that limit across all neighbourhoods within the council area. Some local streets in Carlton, Parkville and Princes Hill and South Yarra will be reduced to 40km/h next month.
A 20km/h speed limit is in place along the one-way sections of Flinders Lane, Little Collins, Little Bourke and Little Lonsdale streets in the CBD.
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