Trial could green-light speed limit drop on WA roads

Could cutting speed on more than 1800 WA regional roads be the answer to the state’s climbing road toll?

That’s the question a three-year first-of-its-kind trial hopes to examine if green-lit by Shire of Augusta Margaret River and City of Busselton councils next month.

Between 2019 and 2023, 136 people were killed or seriously injured on roads in Busselton and 59 in Augusta Margaret River.Credit: Composite Stephen Kiprillis

Public comment on the Safer Speeds Trial, a partnership between the two local governments and RAC, ends Monday, 5pm, with councillors due to vote on it in December.

If approved, about 550 roads in the Shire of Augusta Margaret River and 1250 roads in the City of Busselton will see speed reductions from early 2025.

Support for speed reductions is growing after RAC president Allan Blagaich said speed was the single element of road safety to save lives and achieve road safety targets.

In an opinion piece published by this masthead today, Blagaich said 60 per cent of road fatalities happened in the regions, with WA the only state in Australia with a default 110km/h speed limit.

“Speed is the single element of road safety that gives us a chance to save as many lives as possible and achieve our road safety targets within existing timeframes and budgets,” he writes.

Since 2020, more than $1 billion has been invested in upgrades to about 10,000 kilometres of state roads through the state government’s Regional Road Safety Program.

RAC, together with the WA Local Government Association, have proposed a new $552 million High Speed Local Country Roads Program focused on 8200 kilometres of country-road upgrades.

In its 2024-25 state budget submission, the RAC called for funding commitments towards the new initiative.

In response, the WA Nationals said if elected in 2025, they would commit $276 million.

“WA is facing a devastating crisis on its roads, with 139 lives lost this year already – each one
representing a family and community forever impacted,” WA Nationals leader Shane Love said on October 10.

But WA Labor accused the opposition this week of “piggybacking” off their policy and work.

“It speaks volumes of the National Party,” a state spokesperson told this masthead.

“The government recently allocated an initial $20 million towards expanding our landmark regional road safety program to local government roads and is committed to expanding the program further.”

In September 2023, WA Labor also signed a five-year $1.38 billion funding agreement with WALGA to assist local governments to improve roads.

However, in response to the issue of speed reductions on regional roads, the state was less committal, saying while a review of default speed limits was under way, there were many factors to consider.

“As with any changes to road rules, they must be practical, enforceable, be backed by hard evidence and not have any adverse unintended consequences,” they said.

“Our state is vast, these roads are remote and some very rarely used, so plainly whatever the speed limit is, enforcement is an issue.

“It’s impractical to expect police with a speed-cameras on roads where few vehicles pass.”

They said Main Roads WA was supportive of the trial and the Road Safety Council would consider funding requests if and when they were made.

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