The aim of this report was to examine the characteristics of road crashes occurring in 60 km/h speed zones in Western Australia prior to the implementation of 50 km/h speed zones on the majority of local government owned roads, scheduled to be completed in 2001. Five years of police-reported road crash data was used to determine the severity of crash, crash types, temporal factors and driver characteristics of crashes that occurred in less than 60km/h zones, 60km/h zones, and greater than 60km/h zones. In the metropolitan area, 78 percent of crashes occurred in 60 km/h speed zones compared with 53 percent of crashes in the country area. It has been estimated that 78 percent of road length in the metropolitan area is currently zoned 60km/h. Around 30 percent of all fatal crashes occurred in 60km/h speed zones and 70 percent occurred in speed zones greater than 60km/h. Less than 1 percent of fatal crashes occurred where the posted speed limit was less than 60km/h. It was recommended that crashes in the newly designated 50km/h speed zones be monitored and compared to crashes that occurred in previous 60km/h zones, and compared to crashes that occur on roads that continue to be zoned 60km/h. (Author/publisher)
Abstract