Dramatic call on slower city zone

A 40km/h limit would “dramatically” improve safety in central Geelong, a City Hall officer said this week when announcing dates for public consultations on the proposed speed cut.
During its call for feedback, the City also included a video of one car travelling along Ryrie Street at the existing 50km/h and another travelling at a slower speed.
The video showed that the faster vehicle saved two seconds on the journey through the central city area.
The City said it was “keen to hear from the community” on the proposed 40km/h zone.
The speed reduction would be a “key step” in supporting the TAC’s Towards Zero vision, “based on the principle that everyone has a right to use our roads and streets without a threat to life or health”, Acting General Manager Vicki Shelton said.
The 40 limit would “dramatically improve the safety in the CBD and provide a safer environment for all road users”, she added.
“In the past five years there have been 156 crashes in central Geelong.
“These could have been prevented or lessened with a reduced speed limit.”
Ms Shelton said the video at geelongaustralia.com.au/revitalisation demonstrated that the 40 limit “could be a life-saving difference”.
The City said its information sessions on the proposed 40 zone at The Workshop, 100 Moorabool Street, Geelong, were at 11am to 2pm on 3 September, noon to 7pm on 5 September, noon to 7pm on 7 September, and 11am to 2pm on 9 September.
The City also “encouraged” comments at revitalisation@geelongcity.vic.gov.au.
The announcement of the consultation dates follows a story in last week’s Geelong Indy on state motoring giant RACV slamming the speed cut as an ineffective “blunt method” of preventing crashes.
The council should undertake more work on identifying road safety issues in the city area to “actually find solutions” said RACV roads and traffic manager Dave Jones.
The RACV would also like to see any data on the 156 crashes that the council was citing to justify the 40 zone, he said.
“I’m guessing that many of these crashes were at low speed.”
Mr Jones said a study of inner-Melbourne crashes found that most were unrelated to speed.
“Lowering the speed limit in Geelong will make no difference to the crashes if it’s similar to what we found.”