Speed limits slashed to save lives

Speed limits would be reduced on some roads under a draft strategy released by the Infrastructure and Transport Department to cut the road toll.

A speed limit of 130kmh on the Stuart Highway. Picture: Che Chorley

Speed limits would be reduced on some roads under a draft strategy released by the Infrastructure and Transport Department, with federal and state governments developing new speed management frameworks to cut the road toll.

The draft 2030 national road safety strategy, released last month, includes actions to lower speed limits on regional roads, consider “reducing the open road default speed limit” and implement frameworks managing risks for scooter and e-bike riders, cyclists and pedestrians.

The road safety blueprint, prepared by the commonwealth, state and territory governments and the Australian Local Government Association, recommends speed limit reductions for regional roads “where infrastructure improvements are not foreseen within the life of the strategy”.

It also calls for the development of a Regulation Impact Statement on reducing open road default speeds in regional areas, which are 100km/h in all states except Western Australia and the Northern Territory, which have 110km/h open road limits.

The road safety plan, led by the Office of Road Safety, calls for the Movement and Place framework to support “best practice speed management” and stop deaths on urban, regional and remote roads.

The report, setting targets to reduce traffic deaths towards reaching zero deaths and serious injuries by 2050, said in urban areas “almost one-third of all road crash deaths are pedestrians”.

“The probability of death or ­serious injury for unprotected road users like pedestrians and riders in a crash increases exponentially with increasing vehicle speed: there is an estimated 10 per cent probability of being killed if struck at 30km/h, but this rises to over 90 per cent at 50km/h, the default speed limit in built-up areas,” the draft strategy said.

Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Michael McCormack said while determining speed limits fell under the remit of state and territory governments, any “blanket approach to reduced speed limits is not appropriate in Australia”.

“I strongly encourage the states and territories to take a practical and pragmatic approach when making speed limit decisions, especially in our regional, rural and remote communities,” Mr McCormack told The Australian.

The speed management framework, intended to inform governments of road design, is deemed in the draft strategy as “critical to the decisions we make, including those on speed management”.

Following Barnaby Joyce’s failed leadership challenge in February last year, Mr McCormack sent Cowper MP Pat Conaghan to Sweden for the Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety.

At the time, Mr McCormack faced criticism after The Australian revealed the draft Stockholm declaration endorsed a maximum 30km/h speed limit on suburban roads in response to “traffic injuries, air quality and climate change”. Australia ultimately did not sign the declaration.

The Australian can reveal taxpayers forked out almost $18,000 for Mr Conaghan, who replaced Llew O’Brien as chair of the road safety joint select committee last year, to attend the summit.