More on speed limits at the Train Park

You may have seen the media coverage of our meeting with Lord Mayor Sue Hickey and Alderman Anna Reynolds at the park yesterday.  This was The Mercury's report.

Trine, Amanda, Helayne and I met Elise Archer, Speaker of the House of Assembly, onsite today to hear the Government's view. She understands that the Commissioner for Transport will approve the proposed reduction in speed limits once the Council has come back with its proposed additional road infrastructure measures to assist in slowing the traffic down.  So the ball is in Council's court to keep this moving.

While we were standing at the corner chatting, we witnessed two near misses on the roundabout!

As usual there is some pushback from disgruntled drivers, so it would be great if residents could drop a line to the Council to thank them for their initiative.

Here are some suggested messages:

- it was a good decision to seek the speed limit reduction, and thankyou
- the 40kph limit is becoming the new standard in residential neighbourhoods and shopping areas
- tackling speed will help make our streets safer
- the risk of a crash increases as vehicle speeds increase.  This is partly due to the longer braking distance (braking distance is proportional to the square of speed) and partly due to the time people need to process information, to decide whether or not to react, and finally, to execute a reaction.
- the severity of injuries arising from a crash increases exponentially with vehicle speed. Research from the Curtin-Monash Accident Research Centre shows that at mean speeds of 40kph the risk of death is about 25%, while at mean speed 50kph the risk of death is close to 83%.
- please ensure this process proceeds as quickly as possible to reduce the risk to residents as soon as possible.

Email contact details for the Aldermen are:

Lord Mayor Sue Hickey  lord.mayor@hobartcity.com.au
Deputy Lord Mayor Ron Christie  ronchristie@netspace.net.au
Helen Burnet  helenburnet@gmail.com
Philip Cocker  philip_council@netspace.net.au
Anna Reynolds ald.reynolds@hobartcity.com.au
Tanya Denison  tanyamdenison@gmail.com
Suzy Cooper ald.cooper@hobartcity.com.au
Peter Sexton ptsexton@tassie.net.au
Eva Ruzicka eva@ruzicka.id.au
Jeff Briscoe jbriscoe@netspace.net.au
Damon Thomas damon.thomas@bigpond.com
Marti Zucco ald_zucco@netspace.net.au