Lower urban speed limits (LUSL) are being applied to residential areas in many jurisdictions in Australia including parts of Adelaide, South East Queensland, areas of New South Wales and, more recently, Victoria. LUSL are seen as having significant road safety advantages - if they can be made to work - through traffic calming outcomes and therefore could greatly contribute to 'vision zero'? This paper presents evidence quantifying the impacts of LUSL in terms of measured speeds and volumes, community attitudes, fuel and environmental impacts, travel times and road safety outcomes based on published and emerging evidence. Much of the evidence is based on research into the city wide Unley 40km/h scheme in Adelaide and the computer simulation modelling of the mobility and environmental effects of LUSL as comparisons with safety benefits. It indicates that LUSL can achieve sustainable speed reductions, although the results for traffic performance and environmental impact are more complicated. Under different conditions emissions may be reduced or increased by the use of LUSL. (Author/publisher) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E205861.
Abstract