Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The Perth Inner City 40km per hour Speed Zones Project proposes to create a slower inner-city neighbourhood precinct across five local governments (in addition to the City of Vincent) and a total of approximately 62km².

The geographical area includes local streets within the Cities of Subiaco, Perth and South Perth, the Town of Victoria Park an da portion of the Town of Cambridge (as above, the City of Vincent has already successfully introduced 40km per hour speed limits on its local road). These areas have been identified based on what is needed to be meaningful for community and road users to change, an to best support engagement and education on a mass scale.

The scope of 40km per hour relates to local roads (residential streets) only, with main roads and distributor roads to be considered by Main Roads WA only be exception.

The key rationale for the proposed speed limit changes is to be proactive in managing the role of safe speed on our local streets.

Local streets are where people live, children play and local residents carry out everyday tasks like walking the dog, going for a run and walking to or from school or the local shops. As such, making these places as safe as possible is key.

A 20% reduction in speed limits results in a 200% increase in the likelihood of surviving a collision.   

The current speed limit on local streets is 50km per hour (the default built up area speed). Reducing this to 40km per hour will mean that should a crash occur between a car and a person walking or riding, the person walking or riding will have a better chance of surviving and not being seriously injured.

What are the benefits?

Overall, the key benefits of slower speeds can result in:

• A reduction in the number of road crashes
• A reduction in the severity of road crashes
• Streets become safer for all road users including people walking and riding
• Local government can better direct resources for road safety infrastructure
• Sower neighbourhoods support more connected communities
• A reduction in greenhouse gas emissions

Time travel analysis undertaken in the 40km per trial area (presented within the City of Vincent report) demonstrates only seconds’ difference in journey times when travelling at the existing default 50km per hour on local streets versus the safer speed of 40km per hour.

The two case studies referenced in the City of Vincent report (The Padbury Experiment and the Australian College of Road Safety Journal article on safer speeds) note that the opposition to the introduction of lower speed limits in local neighbourhood streets impacting travel times is not justified, with minimal travel time reductions when travelling at a safer speed.

This is supported by research which notes that local speed limits typically have a negligible impact on travel times, particularly because small variations in trip time associated with travel on local streets at the start and end of journeys are not particularly predictable or significant when considered in the frame of whole trips (Haworth et al. 2001).

There have been 1,052 casualty crashes within in the Perth inner-city area within the last five years (2019 to 2023). Casualty crashes are those crashes that resulted in someone either requiring medical treatment at the scene of the crash, or someone requiring hospitalisation, or someone who has died. Within the City of Subiaco, there have been 55 crashes during this period where someone has required medical treatment at the scene of the crash and 10 where someone has required hospitalisation. Thankfully, there have been no fatalities.

The roads and streets in a district are given different classifications by Main Roads WA (MRWA), depending on how they are used.

Please see the proposed City of Subiaco speed zone map in the Extract to the 18 March 2025 Council Meeting Attachments:

• The map shows 40km per hour is proposed for all Local Access Roads (shown in green in the map).
• The Local Distributor roads (shown in yellow in the map) are planned to be included in the speed limit reduction application, subject to evaluation of suitability by MRWA and the Perth Inner City Group.
• The limits are proposed to remain at the current speed for the Distributor A (shown in purple in the map) and Distributor B (shown in blue in the map) roads.

Main Roads WA are the lead agency for setting speed limits and determine the number and placement of speed signs on all local streets and roads. If approved, Main Roads WA will work with the project team and all Perth Inner City Group member councils, including the City of Subiaco, to roll out the new signs across the Perth inner-city region. This will likely take over 12 months to implement.

These street limits will remain as they are.

School Zones will still be signed, accompanying the 40km per hour speed limit sign, with school zone times removed.

The City of Subiaco will regularly review and update these Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to respond to questions that are raised by the local community.

Council has voted to support the reduction of speed limits to 40km per hour (18 March Ordinary Council Meeting). Any feedback provided will enable the City to monitor community sentiment and inform the development of future communications materials to ensure they support the local community to understand the project benefits and respond to common concerns.

Questions and feedback can be provided via this project page or through a postcards which are available at a number of community locations (Subiaco Library, Lords and Council Administration).

PICG is a voluntary alliance of five inner-city local governments (Subiaco, Perth, South Perth, Victoria Park and Vincent), focused on developing and advancing neighbourhoods and town centres for the better.

The group was formed in 2019 through a Memorandum of Understanding and meet regularly to develop shared solutions. Link to PICG website.

We are collecting questions and feedback on this initiative to track community sentiment, please let us know your questions and feedback and we will update the FAQs throughout the project. 

In addition you can reach out to Engineering Services via city@subiaco.wa.gov.au.