Issues · Policy
Safer speeds on local streets
Most Ipswich residential streets are still 50 km/h, with wide, sweeping intersection corners. A crash at 50 km/h is usually fatal for a person walking or riding; at 30 km/h they usually survive.
The problem
A person hit by a car at 50 km/h has about a 90% chance of dying. At 30 km/h, about a 90% chance of surviving. Yet the streets where Ipswich kids ride and scoot after school are posted at 50 or 60 km/h, and intersections are built with wide sweeping corners so cars don’t have to slow down.
What we’re asking for
- Lower default speed limits on local residential streets and in town centres, in line with what many other Australian councils are now doing.
- Tighter corners at intersections so turning vehicles slow down and the crossing distance is shorter.
- Protected medians and raised crossings at busy pedestrian and bike crossing points.
Why it matters
Street design is the single biggest lever council has over how people drive. Lectures don’t change behaviour. Geometry does.
Updates and correspondence
- Published What's with the attitude? setting out the case.