4 hours ago
3
I can remember when the default speed limit on suburban streets changed from 60km/h to 50km/h.
The rollout of the new limit began at different times in each state from the late ’90s, but in WA – where I grew up – the change came into effect on 1 December 2001.
I was 16, and a month or so away from being able to take my driver’s licence test (you can get your licence at 17 in WA, and my birthday is in January).
My young self who was ready to taste the freedom of having a licence, and to feel the wind in my hair as I fanged it down West Coast Highway, was less than impressed with the new limit.
But now, 20-plus-something years later, I’d say 50km/h is too fast for residential streets.
The other day, as I walked my daughter the less-than 500 metres from our house to her school, I witnessed no fewer than five cars flying by on the one street we need to cross.
That street – though still suburban and lined with houses and cars parallel-parked on either side – is a relatively busy thoroughfare in our suburb.
However, it is not included in our school’s 40km/h zone, as it’s more than 200m from the school gate. By my estimation it misses the mark by about 150m.
But I see countless kids and parents trying to navigate it each morning and afternoon I’m around to do drop-off and pick-up.
What’s more, I see drivers who seem not to care that children are trying to cross, and who also have little regard for the 50km/h limit. If the limit was 40km/h, maybe people would actually slow down to 50km/h.
The Victorian Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) actually classes an 800m distance as walkable, with 400m being the optimal walkable distance from amenities such as shops, train stations and schools.
If we can’t – or won’t – split the difference and expand school zones to a radius of at least 600m, then every residential area should be considered a school zone, and the speed limit should be 40km/h.
I know for a fact that in my area, there is less than 2km – and sometimes less than 1km – between primary schools.
For a family who lives smack in the middle, that’s a 1km walk to their school; a little more than what is considered walkable. But, in most metropolitan areas, people do live within walking distance to primary schools, and governments enthusiastically encourage active transport to school.
The National Road Safety Strategy states that "speed management is critical" to reduce pedestrian deaths.
"The risk of fatality is expected to reach 5 per cent in the event of a vehicle crash where the speed at impact is 30km/h, and increases significantly as the speed at impact increases, growing to 13 per cent at 40km/h and 29 per cent at 50km/h," it states.
As I reported last month, the Victorian Government recently changed its school-zone speed limit policy, allowing schools and councils to apply to change the limit from 40km/h to 30km/h in a school zone. None had applied to do so as of January according to the DTP.
The policy has only been in place for about five months, so it stands to reason many schools and councils will eventually work together to make the change. How will it work when drivers – perhaps unexpectedly – come upon a 30km/h school zone and have to very quickly drop 20km/h from their velocity?
And if you think I’m just doing my best Maud Flanders impression (“Won’t someone, please, think of the children?!”) then rest assured, I have other reasons for my call to lower limits.
My car is one. Poor thing is relegated to a permanent street park because the garage in our townhouse has to do double-duty as an office/kids’ playroom.
I try to park as tightly to the kerb as possible and always (mostly) fold my side window in, but it has had a couple of nicks, and I’m sure countless near misses from drivers misjudging their distance.
There are many families in small homes and townhouses in our area who need to make use of their garages for extra living space, hence needing to park on the street.
What's more, with eye-watering real estate prices that just keep climbing, more and more families are buying smaller homes with minimal to no outdoor space in order to live in desirable neighbourhoods.
My kids use our shared driveway, the footpath and local parks as their backyard. So do many of our neighbours' kids and other families from our school community.
They make friends, and so do we, as we chat to other parents. Our street and surrounds feel like a village where everyone is looking out for each other.
That is, until someone hoons by at 60km/h.
Of course, there are some technically 'suburban' streets where this may not work. I'm talking about wide, double-lane each-way roads that are major thoroughfares, even though they may be lined with homes.
But for most neighbourhood backstreets, and especially those in a 600m radius of a school, I say 40 should be the new 50.
Jemimah is Drive's Consumer Editor. She has more than a decade of editorial experience and has previously worked in property and lifestyle journalism for Domain, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and REA Group, among many other publications.
