Collingwood and Fitzroy streets drop to 30km/h from today
Cars and trams are now limited to driving 30km/h across two inner-Melbourne suburbs, after the state government signed off on a two-year trial to drop the speed limit on almost every street in Fitzroy and Collingwood to decrease serious crashes.
From Thursday, the only streets across the two suburbs not limited to 30km/h are the major state-managed roads – Johnston Street, Nicholson Street, Hoddle Street, Alexandra Parade and Victoria Parade.
New 30km/h speed limit signs have been put up across local streets in the City of Yarra.
Yarra City Mayor and Greens councillor Edward Crossland said the council hoped the measure would eventually become permanent and encompass more of the municipality and other council areas.
“The evidence is clear – lower speed limits save lives,” he said.
New 30km/h signs were put up in recent days across City of Yarra streets and the new speed limit has officially come into effect.
The expanded trial – which covers a roughly three-kilometre-square area bordered by Alexandra Parade and Nicholson, Hoddle and Victoria streets – comes after the 30km/h limit was introduced in a smaller part of the northern edge of both suburbs in 2018.
That 2018 change was intended as a 12-month trial but has been in place ever since.
The City of Yarra published a review of Victorian road crash data for the five years leading up to the implementation of its existing 30km/h trial and the five years since, which showed a 51 per cent reduction in all crashes and 70 per cent reduction in serious crashes.
The data showed there had been 193 crashes on Collingwood and Fitzroy’s suburban streets in the past five years.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton had previously dismissed the push for more streets to be limited to 30 kilometres an hour as “ridiculous”.
More to come.
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