Image: A street in Sydney's Inner West. Gerry H, Shutterstock
by AARYAN KAPOOR
A local council in Sydney will become safer for pedestrians and cyclists by looking to reduce speed limits on local streets.
On Monday 18 March, the Inner West Council (IWC) voted unanimously to lower speed limits on local streets to 40km/hr.
Council will also seek to roll out 40km/hr speed limits near childcare centres, aged care centres, schools and hospitals.
The report InnerWest@40, a result of IWC’s work with Transport for NSW (TfNSW) saw 82 per cent of respondent support uniformly reduced speeds on all local roads within the Inner West.
A 40km/hr speed zone already exists on the Balmain Peninsula.
“In a crash between a car and a pedestrian, there is a 90 per cent chance that a pedestrian will survive at 30km/h, 60 per cent chance at 40km/h and a 10 per cent chance at 50 km/h,” said Councillor Tim Stephens.
“The average vehicle speed in the Inner West is already below 40km/hr. It makes sense to adopt uniform and safer speed limits and increase community safety,” he continued.
“We can achieve this with minimal inconvenience to the travelling public. Our study showed that a weekday trip from Birchgrove to Marrickville will only take 16 seconds longer. A weekend journey on the same route was an additional 36 seconds.”
“It’s a small price to pay for a safer community,” he added.
A previous move to reduce the speed limit to 40km/hr on King Street and Enmore Road was celebrated.
Community members in a Facebook group at the time said that not only would pedestrians and cyclists be safer, people living on or above these busy streets would experience less noise pollution.
Speaking to City Hub, Cr Stephens said the evidence shows that reducing the speed limit will “reduce the number of injuries within the municipality.”
“So, it’ll be saving lives, stopping injury, and saving cash as well.”
Council is now seeking approval and funding from TfNSW to expedite the plan.
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