Redlands Rd speed limit reduced

The review was prompted after a member of the public contacted Transport for NSW with concerns there was no safe crossing, vehicles, especially heavy vehicles at night, were exceeding the speed limit, and general poor behaviour with the airport and industrial area at one end and a school and populated area at the other.

After inspection, the recommendation was to drop the speed limit to 50kmh but Federation Shire Council expressed disappointed in the decision citing a lack of community engagement.

Greg Minahan, lead community and safety partner at Transport NSW addressed councillors at the August 26 council meeting and explained that decisions were ruled by the 2023 speed zoning standard and technicians were bound by the technical document.

“There is no public consultation on speed zoning decisions … and no flexibility in application,” Mr Minahan said.

“Councils may make a representation to the Centre for Road Safety though concessions are not common.

“The assessment is based on the width of the road, what is in the clear zone, density of population, intersections, driveways and crash history.”

If a member of the public requests to change a speed zone, Mr Minahan said the first item to consider was crash history.

“If there is no crash history on the length of road, we aren’t going to pursue it with a lot of gusto; crash history is the primary driver,” he said.

“In this case there were six crashes recorded in the section with five casualties, including a double fatality near the school.”

After taking the council’s concerns into consideration, it was agreed to reduce the speed limit to 60kmh.