BALLARAT councillors have voted to push ahead with a plan to reduce the speed limit in the city’s central business district despite community opposition to the idea.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
All councillors except Amy Johnson and Vicki Coltman voted in favour of reducing the speed limit from 50km/h to 40km/h in the area between Dawson and Humffray streets and bounded by Mair and Dana streets at the council meeting on Wednesday night.
The new speed limits will be introduced for a 12-month trial period before being reviewed.
The council will also push ahead with a trial plan to increase the Sturt Street pedestrian walk phases at intersections between Grenville Street and Doveton Street.
Ballarat Councillors Des Hudson and Belinda Coates said the council had to put the public’s safety before popularity.
A recent online survey undertaken by the council found almost 70 per cent of the 569 respondents were opposed to a reduction in the speed limit.
But Cr Hudson said crash statistics revealed there were 57 vehicle crashes, including nine in which people were seriously injured, in central Ballarat from 2010 to 2014.
“Not very often do we get a proposal in this chamber that can actually save lives,” Cr Hudson said. “This can potentially save a person’s life.”
Cr Hudson said data also revealed lowering the speed limit from 50km/h to 40km/h could increase the likelihood of a pedestrian surviving after being struck by a car from 55 per cent to 75 per cent.
It was a view supported by resident Fay Baxter, who has a visual impairment.
Ms Baxter said she struggled to get around the city and feared for her life crossing main roads.
“Walking across Sturt Street is hard work for me,” Ms Baxter said.
“I walk everywhere – I don’t have a choice, I can’t drive. Anything that can be done to help people with disabilities, the elderly or people who can’t move quickly get around Ballarat more safely is a positive.”
Other public submissions, including one from Central Highlands Health, supported the safety, economic and health benefits of the plan.
No public submissions were made opposing the idea.
Ballarat councillor Amy Johnson said she couldn’t support the plan because of community opposition.
“If we vote in favour of this concept it is saying the government knows best and the community doesn’t know what is best for them,” Cr Johnson said.
Cr Johnson and Cr Coltman said they believed more research needed to be undertaken into the validity of the plan.
Cr Johnson said if the plan was enforced the council needed to implement time restrictions on the speed restriction so it only applied during peak times.
But this was rejected by Cr Hudson because it would exclude times when Ballarat’s nightspots were most active.
The plan has the support of VicRoads, Victoria Police and the Transport Accident Commission.
melissa.cunningham@fairfaxmedia.com.au