Tasmania to reduce speed limits?
After a three-year localised trial, the Tasmanian state government is proposing to lower the rural speed limit by 10km/hSymmons Plains race track could be one of the few places in Tasmania where motor vehicles can legally travel at 100km/h under a new proposal to reduce road accidents.
The Tasmanian state government in partnership with the Road Safety Advisory Council wants to reduce the speed limit from 100km/h to 90km/h on sealed roads and 80km/h and unsealed roads.
The proposal is aimed at reducing the number of Tasmanian road fatalities, and cites statistics that suggest a 10 to 20 per cent reduction in the speed limit on rural roads might save four lives per annum.
Road Safety Advisory Council member John Gledhill spoke to the ABC and said that lowered speed limits would eventually be applied across Australia: "I think this will be a benchmark for the rest of Australia and I expect there will be other parts of Australia that will embrace this in time to come.
"I think Tasmania is a pioneer and I hope that it does have an impact beyond our shores," added Gledhill.
The proposal will take public feedback until February 2011, after which time a decision will be made. If the decision is made to lower the speed limit, it would make Tasmania the first state to implement such a change.
Such a plan has already been tested in the south of Tasmania (Kingborough) and it has been reported that motor vehicle accidents have been reduced on rural roads as a result.
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