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Reductions in average travel speed across the network is the most effective and swift way to reduce road trauma. A reduction of 5 km/h in average travel speed would reduce rural casualty crashes by about 30% and urban by about 25%. South Australia's Road Safety Strategy 2020 sets the direction for reducing serious casualty trauma by at least 30% during the decade. Towards Zero Together - South Australia's Road Safety Strategy 2020 supports the priority actions outlined in the Road Safety Action Plan 2011-2012. |
Force and risk of fatality
Research into the capacity of the human body to absorb crash energy indicates that speeds would ideally be less than 30km/h in where conflict with people walking and cycling is possible, less than 50km/h where vehicle side-impacts are possible and less than 70km/h where head on collisions are possible.
A driver is more likely to collide with another car, hit a pedestrian or run off the road if he or she exceeds the speed limit or drives at a speed that is inappropriate for the conditions. As speed increases, a driver has less time to react to emergencies and requires a greater distance to stop.
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Impact Speed |
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25 km/h
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40 km/h
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60 km/h
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80 km/h
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110 km/h
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| Several elements are important for managing speed. | |
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| Infrastructure | Setting speed limits according to the safety standards of roads and roadsides can help reduce the incidence and severity of crashes. Speed limit reductions should be considered for high risk road sections where infrastructure improvement is not economically feasible, or would not reduce risk. |
| Vehicle Safety | Introducing safety technologies to new vehicles can help reduce crashes and the severity of injuries. Technologies such as electronic stability control (ESC), curtain side air bags and intelligent speed adaption (ISA) are proving valuable in reducing crash consequences. |
| Education | Targeted communication and education initiatives can increase drivers’ awareness of speed-related issues and foster more responsible behaviour by road users. |
| Enforcement | Strengthening speed enforcement can reduce the incidence of speeding. Expanding the safety camera network (red light and speed) at intersections, increasing policing operations at high risk locations and implementing automatic enforcement initiatives (e.g. Point-to-Point speeding detection cameras) continue to play a key role in reducing fatalities and serious injuries. |
