Thank you to all of the supporters who signed this open letter below:
OPEN LETTER: Each year, 1,300 people are killed on Australian roads, and tens of thousands more are left with life-changing injuries. Road trauma far exceeds that of air, marine and rail combined. For nearly five consecutive years, these numbers have risen. We would never tolerate this level of harm in any other transport system. We should not tolerate it on our roads.
This loss is unacceptable – and it is preventable.
Australia once led the world in road safety, but we have fallen behind. Whether measured per head of population, per registered vehicle, or by distance or per kilometres travelled, road fatality rates in Australia sit above the OECD median. Several nations have achieved road trauma rates less than half of ours. They have shown what is possible when evidence guides action.
Reducing the open-road default speed limit is one such evidence-based measure. It simply adjusts the starting point for roads without posted limits, typically unsealed, narrow or winding roads with low traffic volumes. If a road is engineered to support a higher limit safely, it can still be signed accordingly. This proposal does not target major highways or dual carriageways, and it does not remove the need for individual risk assessments or safety improvements.
The question is straightforward: shouldn’t the starting point for the conversation be a safe speed, rather than one that kills?
Countries with the best road safety records have answered yes, and their results speak for themselves. Lower default limits on high-risk roads do not grind nations to a halt. They save lives, prevent life-altering injuries and reduce the billions of dollars that road trauma costs Australia every year.
We, the undersigned road safety professionals, support the reduction of Australia’s open-road default speed limit. It is time to act on the evidence. Lives depend on it.