Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Life at 40

How's it been going with the recently introduced 40 kph zone in local streets around Bay St? There are a few anomalies. VicRoads did not support the 40 kph for Station St, or for Liardet St [between Pickles and Bay St]. Bay St, a VicRoads rather than a Council managed road, remains the stand out anomaly with a speed limit of 60 kph. 
Council will keep on advocating for 40 kph in Bay St as applies in Clarendon, Fitzroy and Carlisle Sts.
Some people have questioned the rationale for introducing the 40 kph zones. Road safety authorities agree that 'for pedestrians, small differences in travelling speed can mean the difference between life and death. If you collide with a pedestrian, death or serious injury is likely even at relatively low speeds. Although a pedestrian who is hit by a car travelling at 60 km/h has little chance of survival, if the car were travelling at 50 km/h the chance of the pedestrian surviving would be 60 per cent. [VicRoads speeding and safety] Chances of survival improve when the speed is lowered further.
Since the Council wants to support a conducive environment for walking, lowered speeds make sense.



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