Council taking steps to reduce road trauma on the Peninsula
Published on 28 November 2022
On Tuesday 22 November 2022, Mornington Peninsula Shire Council resolved to apply to the Department of Transport to gain approval for the Safer Speeds Trial to become permanent.
The trial, which began in late-2019, introduced 80 kilometre per hour speed limits to 33 Shire-managed, high risk sealed rural roads.
These roads previously had 100 km/h and 90 km/h speed limits with a significant history of road deaths and injuries, and high crash risk, including narrow lanes and large trees close to the road.
Earlier this month the Safer Speeds trial evaluation was completed.
The evaluation looked at information such as community views, road trauma statistics and recorded vehicle speeds over the two-year trial period. We heard from over 1000 local Peninsula residents.
In comparison to the two years prior to the trial, annual crashes have reduced from 19 per year to six per year during the trial – that’s a 68 per cent total reduction and a net 20 per cent reduction when compared with similar roads in other municipalities where the speed limit hasn’t changed.
In addition, there have been no road deaths on any of the 33 speed reduced roads since the beginning of the trial.
Overall, the Safer Speeds trial saw a sizable reduction in road trauma and vehicle speeds, as well as strong community support.
Further to deciding to apply for making the trial permanent, Council resolved to review unsealed rural road speed limits where ‘END 80’ signage currently applies and apply to the Department of Transport to change the speed limit where appropriate.
Council also resolved for the Mornington Peninsula Towards Zero 2020-2025 Road Safety Strategy to be referred to the Shire’s new Citizen Panel for report back to Council in 2023.
To stay up to date with the Safer Speeds Trial and to view the Evaluation Summary visit: mornpen.vic.gov.au/saferspeeds.
Quotes attributable to Mayor Councillor Steve Holland:
“The Peninsula's high rates of road trauma casts a long shadow. We experienced the equal highest number of road deaths of Victoria’s 79 municipalities between 2014 to 2021, with 64 deaths and over 1,200 serious injuries, leaving devastating and life-long impacts to victims and their families.
“Our commitment to reducing road trauma is underpinned by the best-practice Safe System philosophy which addresses road trauma under four pillars: Safer Roads, Safer Road Users, Safer Vehicles and Safer Speeds.
“The Shire undertakes initiatives for each of the four pillars, including road safety education, encouraging drivers to purchase the safest vehicles they can afford, and funding millions of dollars of road upgrades, renewal and maintenance each year.
“Our adopted ‘Mornington Peninsula Towards Zero Road Safety Strategy for 2020-2025’ also underpins the Shire’s approach to reducing road trauma.”
For more information about road improvement projects, visit: mornpen.vic.gov.au/majorprojects
Visit our Towards Zero webpage for more information about road safety: mornpen.vic.gov.au/towardszero