A suggestion to let drivers decide speed limits on roads has been branded as “grossly irresponsible” by NSW Parliamentary Secretary for the Illawarra Gareth Ward.
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In a submission to the federal Senate inquiry on Aspects of Road Safety in Australia, NSW senator David Leyonhjelm also said speed limits represented a “trade-off” between crash deaths and convenience.
Sen Leyonhjelm said the aim of having zero deaths on the road could be achieved by reducing the speed limit to 20km/h but that would be “unacceptable” to the community.
“There is an implicit assumption in speed limits that there will be a certain level of deaths and serious injuries as the price paid for convenient travel,” Sen Leyonhjelm wrote in his submission.
The Senator felt drivers rather than “anonymous, unaccountable bureaucrats” should determine that trade-off between crashes and convenience – through what is known as the 85th percentile formula.
“Briefly, it involves the temporary removal of speed limits while speeds are monitored,” the submission stated.
“ At the conclusion of the period a limit is reimposed at or slightly above the speed at which 85 per cent of drivers travel.”
He said this method is “based on the assumption that the large majority of drivers are reasonable and prudent [and] do not want to crash”.
Mr Ward criticised the assumption that everyone driving on the road was reasonable.
“Everyone behind the wheel will have different levels of experience,” Mr Ward said.
“Is he suggesting a 21-year-old driver should have that decision-making power? Young drivers, particularly male drivers, are over-represented in crash data and deaths on our roads.
“The last thing I’d want to be doing is giving young people the ability to decide at what speed they want to travel.
“I think that would be grossly irresponsible.”
The state government, Mr Ward said, had no plans to change the current system of speed ratings and speed zonings, which were “based on best evidence and speed management that the RMS [Roads and Maritime Services] have available”.
He said 100 per cent of revenue collected went to fund road safety projects.