Bid to cut town speed

By Melissa Meehan
THE Shire of Yarra Ranges is directly approaching the Minister for Roads and Ports, seeking an immediate 50 kilometres per hour zoning for 15 townships in the shire.
The townships are Belgrave South, Coldstream, Kallista, Millgrove, Montrose, Mt Evelyn, Mt Dandenong, Olinda, Sassafras, Selby, Tecoma, Wandin North, Wesburn, Woori Yallock and Yarra Glen.
Yarra Ranges councillor Samantha Dunn said there was strong community acceptance of 50km/h town centre speed limit in town centres, where there is high pedestrian and local traffic volume.
“The shire strongly believes that 50km/h zones should be introduced now in these 15 town centres, to complement those already in place on a trial basis,” Cr Dunn said.
“We are aware that VicRoads is still conducting trials of 40 and 50km/h zones in selected strip shopping centres and townships, but speed zoning in our townships is not consistent.”
Cr Dunn said that there was a firm belied in the community that 50km/h zones should be uniformly introduced in Yarra Ranges’ town centres to reduce accidents and save lives.
“In addition, five years have now passed since the trials began, and there still seems no sign that VicRoads is about to review or complete the trials,” Cr Dunn said. “That’s why we have decided to approach the minister directly, rather than waiting for VicRoads to finish its trials and consider action.”
“In short, the introduction of reduced speed limits in selected town centres has been highly successful, and should be extended to other township areas.”