Overview

• RMIT researchers modeled every road in Greater Melbourne and found cutting residential limits from 50km/h to 30km/h reduced riders’ exposure to high-stress roads by 30%.
• Lower limits more than doubled the share of an average bike trip spent on low-stress streets, creating routes better suited to children and less-confident cyclists.
• Car travel times changed only marginally, with modeling showing short local trips increased by about one minute because the lower limit applies mainly to residential streets.
• The findings land as Victoria enacts a law enabling councils to propose 30km/h limits in school zones and local streets.
• Experts say signs alone are insufficient and recommend traffic-calming designs such as modal filters, while official data show pedestrian survival odds drop sharply as impact speeds rise from 30km/h to 50km/h.