A western Sydney Council is celebrating after a two-year battle with the state government to remove speed cameras and lift a 30km limit in the CBD.
Roads Minister Natalie Ward has confirmed the state government will reinstate a 40km speed limit from January and acknowledged community concerns.
Transport for NSW implemented the 30km speed limit as part of a pilot program trial in the Liverpool City Centre as a Covid-19 response, to support more active travel and reduce accidents.
Liverpool mayor Ned Mannoun said the community had been overwhelmingly against the speed limit since it was introduced “without consultation” two years ago .
The measure was met by an “avalanche of complaints” and became a convenient cash cow for the government, he said.
More than 14,000 drivers were booked, and one CBD camera alone generated $2.58 million in fines in the first seven months of this year.
Cr Mannoun said Liverpool’s victory had saved other councils from having similar limits imposed.
“It’s a victory for people power in Liverpool and Sydney’s south west generally,” he said.
“If the 30km limit had become permanent other council areas might have suffered the same fate.
“It’s another example of when the community and Council work together, we can make things happen.”
In exchange for lifting the limit, Council is required to install an extra pedestrian barrier, which Cr Mannoun says will be a priority.
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what a joke, the roads are for cars 40 is very safe and hard to do in some situations
The roads are for all road users: public transport, active transport and cars. The sooner we get past the blinkered mentality of some car users, the better off we will all be. If the right conditions are put in place to encourage people to travel by modes other than cars, and more people make the switch, there will actually be less congestion for those people who have to travel by private car. That has been proven in cities that have shown the foresight to facilitate greater use of other transport modes.
The cities are for people and they should be prioritised over cars.
500m at 30kmh takes 60 seconds, 500m at 40kmh takes 45 seconds yet the chance of a pedestrian surviving being hit by a car at 30 is 90% , this falls to 60% chance of surviving at 40kmh and 10% at 50kmh.
A 10kmh increase in speed has a dramatic increase to the risk of death.
Is that increased risk of killing a pedestrian worth 15 seconds?
When, eventually, there’s astronomical demand for EVs, will supply be able to keep up? Will there be enough precious materials? Is there any way they can be kept affordable? If doubtful, you might seriously consider an Ebike for intra urban and lobby for space on public transport for inter urban journeys. The Planet can’t afford cars.
30 or 40 it doesn’t really matter – when you mix school kids into the equation – you still have to have eyes in the back of your head.
They are now all glued to a mobile phone in one hand and a can of red bull in the other. When two or more get together on an unsupervised pedestrian crossing – self preservation is out the window.
And yet, if you go overseas you can see children standing within a
bee-sting of an train hurling past at 80 km/ph and you say: “Gee that could never happen in Australia”
30 or 40 it doesn’t really matter .
I went through that camera zone, it was 11:05am. As usual I recognized that I was in a school zone. Irrespective of the time and if the zone is active or not, I always do the 40ks or less out of concern and consideration for the saftey of the zoned area.
On that day, I did just that, believing I was in a 40 klms zone I went through at 37 klms.
Next thing , I get a fine in the mail for speeding.
37 in a 30 zone.
The signage in relation to 30 klms was poor , to say the least.
So….considering I took all precautions, was on the lookout for kids and pedestrian’s , no event took place.
EXCEPT being fined .
From my personal perspective, it was unfair.
It should also be noted , that I was driving a truck , already screaming its head off in 2nd gear , to be able to maintain the 37 klms.