The measure is aimed at reducing accidents in urban areas with heavy pedestrian traffic and narrow streets, marking a major shift in the country’s traffic rules as these roads account for around 70% of all ordinary roads nationwide.
[…] above [30 kph] the risk of pedestrians suffering fatal injuries in accidents is said to spike.
[…]
The aim of the speed limit change “is to prevent accidents by stopping dangerous driving, such as failing to slow down even on busy streets”
They’ve done this in a few areas of Melbourne. The fatal injury data is certainly a compelling case:
“the risk of fatality for a pedestrian hit by a vehicle travelling at 30km/h is around 10%, compared to approximately 40% at 40km/h and more than 80% at 50km/h.”
https://acrs.org.au/evidence-supports-30km-h-speed-limits-in-school-zones/
I will admit that driving at 30km/h is pretty painful sometimes.
That’s probably street design issue.
This. 30km/h is common in Germany and if the road design is good, then it feels perfectly fine.
it is extremely hard to drive at 30 kmh. The car at its lowest power still wants to exceed 30, so it’s accelerator, regen, accelerator, regen… very jerky ride
Is… there a /s missing here? Because if not, that sounds like an issue with your car to be honest. I’ve never driven a car that had an issue keeping 30 steadily
I just set my cruise control to 30 kph and cruise along. No jerkiness. Just sometimes people riding my ass that can’t do 30 apparently.
There’s always a few people in speed limit conversations outing themselves. Do they lack the concept of riding on your breaks? How do they navigate a parking lot where you’re very likely limited to 15kph?
It would be painful to drive at that speed. Slowest you’ll ever see in the US on public roads is generally 25mph/40kph even in residential or downtown areas. Even then most people are driving 30mph+, 48kph+
40km/h has been the minimum speed limit on public roads in Aus for quite a while, and it’s still the norm. 30 is pretty new and will probs take some time to adjust to.