Government axes plans to reduce regional speed limits

Following intense public backlash, the Australian Government’s proposal to reduce default regional speed limits nationally has been canned.

 

Under the proposal, the speed limit on all non-signed roads in rural areas would drop from 100 km/h to 70 km/h.

The Department of Infrastructure and Transport sought community feedback on the idea, which received over 11,000 submissions.

CEO of the Western Roads Federation, Cam Dumesny, likened the ill-conceived proposal to “barracks room punishment”, saying: “In military terms, that’s where one person stuffs up and everyone gets punished.

“Instead, they should target the actual dangerous sections of roads and target the people who are breaking the law, don’t punish everyone.”

While he welcomed the government’s decision to axe the reduced speed limit proposal, Dumesny also acknowledged that it doesn’t get rid of the core issue. “There is a clear road safety problem. Money needs to be put back into road maintenance right across regional Australia, prioritising black spot areas and we need to start addressing driver attitude. The attitude of some car drivers around trucks is a big issue but it’s also a difficult one to fix.”

Dumesny pointed to recent findings from Austroads’ National AusRAP Dashboard, which shows the safety of various roads across all states and territories, giving them a rating from one to five stars.

Interestingly, he says, that despite its sheer size in comparison to other states and territories, and huge regional road network, Western Australia has just a single one-star rated road – well at least according to the report anyway. That’s in comparison to Victoria, which has 27 one-star rated roads. “We have 147,000 kilometres of roads in WA and only 30 per cent of our roads are sealed,” he said. “I think those who wrote the report should go for a drive into the regions.”

Dumesny shared a photo (right) of the Tanami Road. “On either side of that narrow strip, the holes are 1 metre deep – and truck drivers are supposed to get a road train through the eye of a needle at night!”

Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association (ALRTA) President Gerard Johnson called the reduced speed limit proposal “a deeply flawed concept that failed to address the real drivers of road safety”.

“This was never a road safety solution – it was a distraction from the real issue,” Johnson said. “We thank the government for listening to regional Australians. Scrapping this proposal is simply common sense.”

Johnson said he would like to see the focus shifted toward meaningful investment in rural road infrastructure, rather than measures that add complexity for drivers without improving safety outcomes.

He highlighted the commencement of works on the $500 million Beef Roads program in Queensland as a positive example of the type of investment that actually delivers safety and productivity benefits.

“This is exactly what rural Australia needs – real, on-the-ground investment that makes roads safer, stronger and more reliable,” Johnson said.

“Better roads save lives. Better roads reduce crashes. Better roads improve productivity. Speed-limit changes do none of these things without the infrastructure to support them.”

“If we want safer roads, we need to invest in them. That’s how you get real safety outcomes.”

When the idea to reduce regional road speed limits was first floated at the end of October, the National Roads and Motorists’ Association (NRMA) was also vocal in its stance on the matter. In its submission to the government, it said, “Setting appropriate speed limits is vital for public safety. Any provisions relating to speed limit settings must be underpinned by a clear, evidence-based framework.

“Accordingly, the NRMA does not support arbitrary changes to speed limits or speed zones. This includes proposals to reduce the open road default speed limit outside built-up areas.”

Member for Parkes, Jamie Chaffey, called the reduced speed limit proposal “an ill-conceived plan” that should have never seen the light of day. “This plan was a diversion from the fact that road funding has fallen a long way behind what is needed to maintain regional roads,” he said. “Safety issues cannot be addressed by asking people to slow down to drive around potholes.

“Regional communities, local councils, and Liberal and National MPs have told the Albanese Labor Government in no uncertain terms they do not want this plan, and common sense has finally prevailed.

“Cutting speed limits would have been a lazy substitute for real road investment Chaffney continued. “The amount of necessary funding that has been knocked back through Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements in the past three to four years is staggering at about $150 million. Councils cannot meet these enormous costs, and they should not be expected to.”

Chaffney has called on the Australian Government to invest more into fixing roads, pointing to startling figures. Over the past year, he says 1361 lives have been lost on Australian roads, with two thirds of these deaths occurring on regional roads. October also recorded the worst monthly toll in five years, with fatalities at 14.9 per cent above the average.

“It’s time they got on with the task of making roads safer by fixing them and filling the potholes,” he said.

Also commenting on the axed proposal, Federal Member for Page, Kevin Hogan said, “Labor have backed down on their ridiculous idea to cut the default speed limits on regional roads from 100 km/h down to 70 km/h. Common sense has prevailed. This would have had serious consequences for productivity and freight costs across regional communities.”

The Victorian Farmers Federation also strongly opposed the proposed speed limit reduction, “We were a part of the chorus of opposition to this, outlining the many reasons why it was a bad idea in a recent submission,” they said.

“Now we can continue to focus on the shocking state of our regional roads and the dire need to get them fixed!”