The Australasian College of Road Safety (ACRS) has joined leading road safety professionals in urging governments to adopt a safer open-road default speed limit, warning that Australia’s rising road trauma demands evidence-based action.
Each year, 1,300 people are killed on Australian roads and tens of thousands more suffer life-changing injuries. Road trauma far exceeds that of air, marine and rail combined, and Australia’s fatality rates sit above the OECD median. Several countries have achieved rates less than half of ours by acting on evidence and setting safer baseline speeds on high-risk roads.
The proposed change applies only to roads without posted limits, typically unsealed, narrow or winding rural roads. 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.
ACRS CEO Dr Ingrid Johnston said, “The starting point for speed on these roads should be a safe one. Other nations have shown that safer defaults save lives without grinding communities to a halt.”
The open letter signed by road safety researchers, engineers, practitioners, and community organisations states clearly: this loss is unacceptable, and it is preventable.
ACRS calls on the Australian Government to act on the evidence and adopt a safer open-road default speed. Lives depend on it.