30km/h speed zone to be enforced in Melbourne's inner north
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/30km-h-speed-zon…
Speeds will drop to 30km/h on residential streets in Collingwood and Fitzroy from September in a move believed to be an Australian first.
It is understood that this will serve as a test case and the new speed limit could be proposed for other areas in Melbourne if the trial is successful.
Within weeks, Victoria Police will fine motorists who break the new speed limit, which will apply to eight kilometres of local roads bound by Alexandra Parade and Hoddle, Johnston and Nicholson streets.
The new speed zone (which will not apply to Smith and Brunswick streets) will be a 12-month trial led by Yarra Council, backed by a $250,000 grant from the Transport Accident Commission. The area is currently a 40km/h zone.
I suspect speed camera revenue targets are not being met in some areas. This "trial" will spread in no time and it'll roll out exactly the way the current 40km/h did years ago. Once the rollout of 30km/h areas are complete in a few years, they'll have a trial of 20km/h and so on. It's absolutely ridiculous.
Does anyone actually still believe the "if you don't speed or break the law, you've got nothing to worry about" crap that some people spew? What about when they restrict speeds to 20km/h? And then to 10km/h? At what point would those people (if any) think it's ridiculous?
I think speed limits in residential and high density urban areas are too high. For too long we've been prioritising the motor car getting through our neighbourhoods when we should be focussing on the people that stop and stay there. A few extra minutes on the end of the journey (in most cases) in the residential zone would not hurt anyone.
But… the compromise could be lifting the limits on interurban arterial roads - the places where we don't see pedestrians and there is little other than motor vehicle traffic passing through.