Making Inner West Streets Safer for the Community

Inner West Council has voted unanimously to implement 40km/hr speed limits on local Inner West streets within the Inner West Local Government Area.

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Inner West Council and Transport for NSW (TfNSW) worked closely together on this plan to make the Inner West a safer place to walk, cycle and move around.

The Council will seek approval and funding from TfNSW to expedite the delivery of the plan.

The adopted report InnerWest@40, saw 82% of responders support uniformly reduced speeds on all local roads within the Inner West.

“Council will also seek to prioritise the roll out of 40km/hr speed limits near aged care homes and childcare centres, along with our schools and hospitals.

“We’ve seen the success of the existing 40km/hr speed zone on the Balmain Peninsula and it’s time to bring all our streets into uniform alignment.

“In a crash between a car and a pedestrian, there is a 90 per cent chance that a pedestrian will survive at 30km/h, 60 per cent chance at 40km/h and a 10 per cent chance at 50 km/h,” said Councillor Tim Stephens.

“The average vehicle speed in the Inner West is already below 40km/hr. It makes sense to adopt uniform and safer speed limits and increase community safety.

“We can achieve this with minimal inconvenience to the travelling public. Our study showed that a weekday trip from Birchgrove to Marrickville will only take 16 seconds longer. A weekend journey on the same route was an additional 36 seconds.

“It’s a small price to pay for a safer community,” Councillor Tim Stephens said

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