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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 10 Hansard (24 September) . . Page.. 3187 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

Our Bill simply lowers the general, or default, speed limit across the residential areas from 60 to 50 kilometres per hour. The Bill does not affect the higher speed limits that are already set on the main arterial roads; nor does it affect the ability of the Government in the future to set different speed limits on particular roads by signposting. The lower, 40 kilometres per hour, speed zones outside schools will still apply. The idea of lowering the speed limit on residential streets has been around for many years. The current debate in Australia could be said to have started when metrication was introduced in 1974. The old speed limit of 35 miles per hour was arbitrarily rounded up to 60 kilometres per hour, when it could have just as easily been rounded down to 50. The 60 kilometres per hour speed limit is not an absolute figure. Many other countries in the world, particularly in Europe, have a 50 kilometres per hour speed limit.

In recent years, Mr Speaker, there have been reports and submissions from a wide range of organisations in the transport sector that have come out in support of lowering the speed limit in residential areas, for safety and amenity reasons. Most recently, there was the Austroads report on urban speed management in Australia - Austroads is an organisation representing all State road authorities - and the New South Wales Parliament's Staysafe Committee report on a lower urban speed limit for New South Wales, both released last year. The Australian College of Road Safety, with membership across a range of motoring organisations, has also come out in support of a lower speed limit. Of particular note is that the NRMA and the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria have publicly supported the 50 kilometres per hour speed limit on residential streets.

The New South Wales Government has now initiated trials of the 50 kilometres per hour speed limit in 14 local government areas in New South Wales, including Queanbeyan. I understand that the Queensland Government has also recently announced that the speed limit in the south-eastern corner of Queensland will be reduced to 50 kilometres per hour from December 1998. Last February, the Greens called on the ACT Government to support national moves to lower the general speed limit in residential areas from 60 to 50 kilometres per hour. Disappointingly, the Government has not chosen to support this reduction so far and has made little effort to seriously consider the considerable advantages of a lower speed limit in residential areas. We have now amended the Motor Traffic Act ourselves, as we did not feel that it was appropriate to wait any longer for the Government to act. As with other national initiatives, one government has to take the lead, and we would like to see it be the ACT. Other States are now gradually proceeding to reduce their speed limits, and we see no reason at all why the ACT should not be leading this significant reform of the road rules.

The laws of physics regarding the forces of impact when cars hit other cars or pedestrians do not need to be trialled anymore. The road safety benefits of a lower speed limit have been proven over and over. Studies in various cities have shown that lowering the speed limit to 50 kilometres per hour would reduce accidents by 15 per cent, injuries by 20 per cent and fatalities by 25 per cent. Cars travelling at 50 kilometres per hour can stop 10 metres shorter than cars travelling at 60 kilometres per hour. If a person is 40 metres in front of a car travelling at 60 kilometres per hour, the car will hit that person

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