Millions of drivers face major road rule change: ‘No longer viable’

As authorities continue to grapple with the skyrocketing rate of deaths on our roads, experts are again repeating their pleas to lower the default speed limit, which remains in some jurisdictions a dizzying 110 kilometres per hour — among the highest default limits across the globe.

Earlier this year it was revealed 2023 was our deadliest year on the road in a decade. In some places, such as the Northern Territory, fatalities behind the wheel rose by a whopping 170 per cent in 12 months. In the Territory, and in Western Australia, the default speed — where there are no signs enforcing a limit — is 110 km/h. Everywhere else in the country the default limit is capped at 100km/h.

These rates are among the highest default speed limits in the world — and that's something WA Centre for Road Safety Research director Teresa Senserrick hopes will soon change. Speaking to Yahoo News, the West Aussie says she'd like to see that figure drop in WA first and foremost, but thinks the rest of the country could benefit from reduced limits too.

Ahead of the state's road safety summit, due to be held in early September, Senserrick said lowering the limit will save lives. "So when the country changed from miles per hour to kilometres per hour, all the states and territories rounded their default speed limit on rural roads to 100 — except WA and the NT.

"Modelling shows that the one decision has resulted in hundreds of lives lost, and thousands of injuries on our roads that could have been avoided."

'A lot has changed since the '70s', expert argues

Senserrick said since the 1970s, much has changed across the country, including technological advancements in cars and a huge increase in our population. "So it is really about adapting to changes over time, and saying that these speeds are no longer viable on the roads if we want to prioritise people's lives and wellbeing," she said.

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"In other parts of the world, they are looking to reduce those 100km/h [default limits] to 90. And in fact in Sweden, the rural default is actually 70 km/h unless otherwise signed."

Senserrick argues the only thing that is going to work in reducing road deaths is being "tough on speed and tough by enforcement". "Going back again to the '70s and '80s, people did not generally believe that having several drinks and driving was risky," she said.

"We did not change people's attitudes before the big booze bus programs came on board, once the random breath testing program started and the results were taking hold over time. That has now changed, people do agree that drinking too much is risky to drink and drive. We need to do the same approach with speed."

Lower speed limits reduce likelihood of serious crashes and deaths, research suggests

Senserrick said WA and the NT must first fall in line with other jurisdictions in Australia, then we should be looking collectively at how to reduce the default speeds further. "Tasmania has been lowering some of their highways down to 90, and others actually down to 80," she said. "

And the community has accepted that because they can see those are the speeds that are tolerated due to the changes in conditions, including the number of people and vehicles on the roads."

A 2021 paper conducted by the Centre for Automotive Safety Research found the risk of serious and fatal injury in all impact types reduced from 4.6 per cent at a travel speed of 110 kilometres per hour to 3.3 per cent at 100 kilometres per hour — a reduction of an incredible 28 per cent.

In addition, similar research also revealed that the faster the speed at which a vehicle crashes, the more likely it will result in serious or deadly injuries. And while, just because a default rural limit may be lowered to 100 km/h, it doesn’t mean that will be the limit for all roads.

But Senserrick said it's a good start.

"Australia used to be in the top 10 of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in our roads safety records, we were tracking to get into the top five, and doing extremely well," she said.

"We now barely scrape into the top 20, and we are well below the average. We have got very, very far behind."

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