Speed Limits
Council adheres to the Department of Transport and Planning’s Speed Zoning guidelines for assessing and posting speed limits on council-owned roads. This process aims to ensure that speed limits all over Victoria consider the road environment, road function, and safety of all road users, such that speed limits are consistent, realistic and encourage voluntary compliance.
Below are things that are considered when determining speed limits:
- The “speed limit” and a “safe speed” may differ. The speed limit is the maximum legal speed for a driver on the road in perfect conditions. Drivers should adjust their speeds to the conditions, including weather, traffic congestion, pedestrians on the road and activity from roadside areas such as schools, shopping centres and leisure facilities.
- The speed limit should support what the road is used for. Different roads can have different functions depending on who is the primary user e.g. pedestrians, cyclists, cars, buses or heavy vehicles.
Further information on speed limits, and how they are determined, and set can be found by visiting Speed Zones : VicRoads
Council regularly receives requests to review speed limits. This page aims to provide information on the function of speed limits, and the speed limit review process.
The two default speed limits in Victoria are 50km/h (for built up residential areas), and 100km/h (roads in rural areas). These speed limits are usually not signposted, and still require drivers to adjust their speeds depending on the conditions when and where necessary. When speed limits other than the default limits apply, signs are installed to inform drivers of the speed limit.
Where default speed limits are not appropriate, other speed limits may be applied, for example:
- 10km/h – shared zones
- 20km/h - some laneways in Mildura & Merbein CBD
- 30km-40km/h – CBDs, residential, recreational and entertainment areas, hospital zones
- 40km/h – school zones (8-9:30am & 2:30-4pm)
- 60km/h and above – high traffic volume roads and rural roads
The default speed limit on an unsealed road is 100km/h. Unsealed roads with a 100km/h speed limit are unsigned. As road conditions may frequently change, drivers must use their judgement and drive at a speed that is appropriate for the prevailing conditions.
Council will only review a speed limit where the function of the road or the surrounding land use has changed due to development. It is not appropriate for council to review speed limits in response to speeding or hooning complaints or one-off requests from residents. Council conducts speed limit reviews in accordance with the VicRoads Speed Zoning Policy and Speed Zoning Technical Guidelines.
When conducting a speed limit review, the following factors are considered:
- Traffic volumes
- Road function
- Road alignment
- Roadside hazards
- Land use
- Crash history
- Lane and shoulder width
- Prevailing vehicle speeds
- Property and intersection density
- Transport network efficiency
- Community support
If a speed limit review results in the need to reduce the current speed limit, Council will seek authorisation from VicRoads to make that change. Once VicRoads has provided authorisation to change the speed limit, Council will then erect the new speed limit signs.
To better understand the speeding concerns on our road network, Council installs tube counters across the road to record vehicle speeds and traffic volumes. These are placed in the street for at least two weeks to record traffic patterns for an average working week. Tube Counters are not placed during school holiday periods.
The process of investigating speeding vehicles can take up to 60 days to record and analyse the data. The results of the data collection will assist in determining if a street requires traffic calming devices and is based on what is known as the 85th percentile traffic speed.
The 85th percentile traffic speed is a widely used traffic statistical metric which provides an accurate estimation of traffic conditions and helps identify unfitting speed limits. The 85th percentile speed is the speed adopted by reasonable people, according to the road environment. We assume that most drivers are sensible while trying to reach their destination as quickly as possible. Often the data indicates that not all vehicles are speeding therefore the speeding issues are often attributed to hooning activity which requires law enforcement.
Other factors considered when assessing speed limits include crash history, road design, type of street environment, and levels of pedestrian and cycling activity.
Council does not have authority to enforce speed limits or any traffic offences involving moving vehicles. Members of the public wishing to report instances of speeding, hooning, or other illegal driving should contact their local Victoria Police. For more information see aggressive driving (hooning).