Calls For Further Speed Limit Reductions.

[vztrt]

Seems that lowering our suburban limit to 50 had an increase on pedestrian deaths. So now they're saying to do it again and by 20km/h. But not only residential streets but 80k/h zones as well.

Time to get back into riding bikes boys and girls.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/pe...21.html?page=1

Pedestrian deaths drive push for speed-limit cuts

Reid Sexton
January 11, 2009

A RISE in pedestrian deaths has sparked calls for speed limits in built-up areas to be lowered by 20 km/h, a move a leading international road-safety expert says could help cut the Victorian road toll by 30 per cent.

The calls follow a year in which 59 pedestrians died on Victorian roads — a jump of more than 40 per cent from 2007 despite the state recording its overall lowest road toll on record.

But any gains from last year are being overshadowed by a deadly start to 2009, with 15 fatalities making it the worst start to the year since 1997.

VicRoads says it is not considering blanket reductions of urban speed limits, but this reluctance to bring them in line with many European countries is putting Victoria's international reputation as a road-safety pioneer in jeopardy, according to Sweden's director of road safety, Claes Tingvall.

Victoria was the first jurisdiction in the world to introduce mandatory seat belts and random breath-testing, but Professor Tingvall, who spent nearly three years in Melbourne as director of the Monash University Accident Research Centre, said the state urgently needed to rethink speed limits.

Since introducing its Vision Zero policy in 1997, Sweden has reduced speed limits on local roads to 30 km/h. It is now cutting its 50 km/h limit on arterial roads to 40 km/h.

The move has resulted in Sweden's road toll dropping by almost 25 per cent to about 4.4 deaths per 100,000 people last year, compared with Victoria's 2008 toll of 304, or 5.7 per 100,000.

Professor Tingvall said it was expected Sweden's toll would continue to drop and if Victoria implemented similar reductions, along with building infrastructure such as roundabouts and raised platforms on arterial roads, it could cut the road toll by a third.

"Given Victoria's past performance in (road safety), there's no doubt you could reach 200 by doing this," he said. "(But) we get horrified when we see your speed-limit philosophy … In some respects, Victoria is the leading jurisdiction in the world, but if you go to urban design and urban safety relating to infrastructure and speed limits, it's definitely not in the lead. It's very much behind."

His comments follow revelations that the surge in pedestrian deaths has prompted the Monash University Accident Research Centre to undertake a three-year investigation to enable it to put forward recommendations for reducing Victoria's pedestrian toll to 10 a year.

Bruce Corben, of the centre, backed Professor Tingvall's call but said 10 km/h reductions may be a more realistic starting point. Dr Corben said pedestrians were four times more likely to be killed if struck by a driver travelling at 50 km/h than at 40 km/h, but most Victorian roads are set at 50 km/h and 60 km/h because optimal impact speeds have not been taken into account.

Dr Corben pointed to Holland, where the road toll has fallen by more than 30 per cent since it adopted Sweden's approach in the late 1990s, as another example of how effective a small speed reduction can be.

He said the Government should not fear a public backlash, as the introductions of compulsory seat belts and random breath-testing faced community opposition at the time but their benefits led to an eventual acceptance by motorists.

"'In Europe we have seen this huge shift in thinking and we need that here."

But the suggestion has been rejected by the RACV, which says drivers would ignore any further speed reductions.

"Those limits won't be seen by the community as reasonable and therefore won't be complied with," said spokesman Brian Negus.

Melbourne University health expert Rob Moodie said a reduction in speed limits would lead to more people taking up walking and cycling.

A VicRoads spokesman said the agency continued to target areas with high pedestrian activity by further reducing speed there. He said 80 per cent of Victorians supported 50 km/h limits in built-up areas.

How fast is too fast?
Urban speed limits where pedestrians and traffic mix (in km/h)

Local road Arterial roadSweden 30 40-50


30 50

Holland

50 60-80

Victoria

40-50 50-80

Canada

40 56-88

California

[4Vman]

Ban freakin pedestrians, they're the ones walking in front of cars....

For pedestrian fatalities id like to know who was at fault? and if it was the car, how fast were they traveling relative to the posted limit.

dumb pedestrians will do stupid things....

[mrbaxr6t]

Lowering the speed limits increases pedestrian confidence and they assume that they are less likely to be hit, and hence behave even more stupidly this does not surprise me in the slightest, here's an idea teach pedestrians NOT to play chicken with cars on our roads.

[Daymoe]

Maybe less people would die if they stayed on the footpath and stopped jaywalking, actually crossed when there is a green man, stopped walking out from inbetween parked cars etc.

[[Tonko]]

blame the stupid pedestrians!
I nearly hit an emo couple today just wandering between parked cars and out in front of me.
And like i told them "next time i wont miss"

[RG]

How about bring back the old ads and teaching from back when I was a kid. "Look right, look left, look right again" was drilled into us and it's something that even now I still do.

[AUIIForte]

Originally Posted by vztrt

The calls follow a year in which 59 pedestrians died on Victorian roads — a jump of more than 40 per cent from 2007 despite the state recording its overall lowest road toll on record.

All that says to me is that because of all the strict rules/regulations and all those cameras hanging up in Victoria, people are only focused on their speedo and the car in front of them and don't have enough time to watch for pedestrians.

Anybody else think the same?

[galaxy xr8]

I'd like to know the statistic's on these so called pedestrain death's, and just how many of them are alcohol releated ????.

[4Vman]

Originally Posted by AUIIForte

All that says to me is that because of all the strict rules/regulations and all those cameras hanging up in Victoria, people are only focused on their speedo and the car in front of them and don't have enough time to watch for pedestrians.

Anybody else think the same?

Oh please.........

Do you ever check your mirrors, gauges, adjust your stereo, look at the clock, things around you, survey the road around you, look at passengers, BLINK, etc......?
Maintaining your speed has always been a requirement of driving...
Anyone who can't perform this most basic fundamental driving function without becoming a distracted death risk on the road should hand their license in now...

[Rob's 76 Effy]

Originally Posted by AUIIForte

All that says to me is that because of all the strict rules/regulations and all those cameras hanging up in Victoria, people are only focused on their speedo and the car in front of them and don't have enough time to watch for pedestrians.

Anybody else think the same?

What a load of crap, if your more focused on looking at your speedo and not watching on whats going on around you you shouldn't be on the road, this line of answering with more ppl are watching there speedo's is getting a bit thin now , if you run someone over or have and accident will that be your excuse to the coppers i was watching my speedo

[snappy]

well ill say this i most certainly pay more attension to my speedo than i used to.

I would think the responsibility is on the pedestrians for this unless there being hit at crossings anyway.

[GS608]

If you get hit by a car because you were jaywalking or just being a general idiot then back luck, you deserve to be hit, they'd think twice about walking out in the middle of the road then.

lowering the speed limit will just make more drivers ****ed off, and they'll drive accordingly, i.e very aggressively

bloody pathetic

[brenx]

We all may aswell go out and buy push bikes as well get around faster than the signed vehicle speed limits allow. rofl. If the deaths have increased it means to me that the limit should be put back up to 60. Least pedestrians will proceed cautiously.

I drive a HR truck around doing curbside pickups in residential streets. The amount of pedestrians that walk out in front of the truck is surprising. A big white/yellow or blue truck thats 20+ tonnes can't really be that hard to see can it? Then on the flip side is the amount of people that walk or drive behind the truck when its reversing, reverse lights are on, the beeper is on (it's loud and annoying). If it wasn't for the camera and mirrors they'd be dead or seriously injured. I can understand walking out when the trucks stopped but while the trucks moving toward them is just plain stupid.

[Rob's 76 Effy]

The responsibility is also with you not just the pedestrians,. they still have the right to be able to cross a road without fear of being run down, now before everone starts saying they should be using a pedestrian crossing, there not always around and every street corner doesn't have a set of lights with the little green man as has been mentioned, the only real thing that bothers me with pedstrians is with ppl pushing out prams between cars first, putting there kids at risk before themselves, but with saying that i always underspeed in area's with shops and schools

[TUF_302]

The road is for cars!, why cant people understand that if your on the road there is a big chance of a car hitting you!, i really hope they dont make the limits any lower!

[Falcon Coupe]

They may as well cut it to zero and make us walk :togo:
It's time pedestrians took responsibility for their actions.

Bring back Hector the Cat to teach fools how to cross the road, looking at my street (some) parents are not up to the job.

[snappy]

It would be because of all these ipod's people are not hearing the cars and probly not looking proply

[FPV8U]

Originally Posted by snappy84

It would be because of all these ipod's people are not hearing the cars and probly not looking proply

I jog with an Ipod every night and ive never come close to getting hit.. but then again i don't jog on main roads or with traffic coming from behind me either.

It's simple teach people how to cross a road at the right times and places and there will be zero deaths.

[Riksta]

As John Laws wrote in "The Book Of Uncommon Sense" - if I stand in the middle of the road, I deserve to be hit, don't I?

All lowering the speed limits will do is give pedestrians even more confidence to walk out in front of cars - if he's not going that fast he'll stop in time, or only give me a bruised leg.

I say increase the speed limit and make huge metal bullbars compulsory. At least then people will think twice about becoming a pedestrian and doing stupid things.

[Daymoe]

Its probably cheaper to lower speed limits than to teach people how to cross a road safely.

[GS608]

Originally Posted by Daymoe

Its probably cheaper to lower speed limits than to teach people how to cross a road safely.

doubt it, those road signs cost a fair bit, but then again chuck a speed camera there and you'll get your money back in an hour..

[Outbackjack]

NT road toll 2006 = 44
introduction of speed limits on NT highways 1st Jan 2007.
NT road toll 2007 = 57
NT road toll 2008 = 75

NT goverment revenue from speeding fines, up by 250%

[Green X]

"'In Europe we have seen this huge shift in thinking and we need that here."

“Since introducing its Vision Zero policy in 1997, Sweden has reduced speed limits on local roads to 30 km/h. It is now cutting its 50 km/h limit on arterial roads to 40 km/h.

“The move has resulted in Sweden's road toll dropping by almost 25 per cent to about 4.4 deaths per 100,000 people last year”

Sweden> 449,964 square kilometres
Australia > 7,617,930 square kilometres

21.3 million People
Sweden 9.2 million People

Yep, well this is Australia not Europe and just maybe what works in Europe/ Sweden won’t work in Australia due to the fact we are a totally different country!

[4Vman]

The only place i'd support "slower" than usual speed limits is around schools and strip shopping centers.....
Very young children just can't be expected to know or understand road safety enough to be totally trusted, and they can take off in a heart beat........
The current limits are IMO fine....

[4Vman]

Originally Posted by snappy84

well ill say this i most certainly pay more attension to my speedo than i used to.

Can i suggest that's because you weren't paying an appropriate amount of attention to it before... ??!!

[Rob's 76 Effy]

Originally Posted by Falcon Coupe

They may as well cut it to zero and make us walk :togo:
It's time pedestrians took responsibility for their actions.

Bring back Hector the Cat to teach fools how to cross the road, looking at my street (some) parents are not up to the job.

Well if there not up to the job drive accordinly, i cant see why it's so hard if you see ppl standing at the side of the road that they just might step out so slowing down a bit, oh thats right it then puts you into the pll driving under the limit class

[snappy]

Originally Posted by 4Vman

Can i suggest that's because you weren't paying an appropriate amount of attention to it before... ??!!

Possible ,but possibly not . Never hit anyone impossible to know if i ever was.
I used to speed a far bit on p plates but as i get older ive become more sensible . Im not afraid of speeding but i am of being fined i only drive at a limit of what is safe anyway even if that meant doing 30kph in a hundred zone .

It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out if you double the amount of times you glance at your speedo . You have doubled the amount of times you taken your eyes of the road. I am not saying remove all revenue raisers but for a driver that did not speed anyway it has made me less aware of my surroundings.


I will agree with you that school zones ,shopping centres would not hurt

[deathlucky]

if your to stupid to look for cars before walking on to a road YOU DESERVE TO DIE WTF!!! you can't just walk out in front of over a ton of steel in glass its suicide.

[Nikked]

So they punish drivers, because pedestrians can't look both ways, let alone use a zebra crossing? Pedestrians are stupid, the cant walk an extra 5 meters to a crossing, so they dart out in front of cars, stupidly hiding behind parked cars. Yet, you'll get a dirty look if you nearly (or come too close to them) hit them.

[FPV8U]

I don't mind lower speed limits in some areas like has been said Primary School Zones, Ect

(High schools are a joke if you can't cross a road by the time your 13-18 you don't have much hope in life)