Published on Sunday, 27 July 2025 at 12:25:00 PM
The City of Bayswater successfully applied for a speed limit reduction on Bath Road between Morley Drive and Walter Road West.
The request for an amendment of the existing speed zoning of 60km/h to 50km/h originated out of a Council request. The City reviewed existing travel patterns, vehicle composition, adjacent land uses and road geometry including installed local area traffic management measures.
In the City’s review it found that:
- A Local Area Traffic Management series of measures was implemented in the form of chicanes or 'pinch points' around 2010 and data collected post-commissioning indicated that 85th and 95th percentile speeds along the road are at or near 50km/h despite the 60km/h speed zoning.
- The proposed change in speed zoning from 60km/h to 50km/h is consistent with the Movement and Place characteristics whereby which Bath Road is designated as a District Distributor B road, it functions more analogously like a Local Distributor road with significant residential frontage, on-street parking permitted and close proximity to a primary school.
- There was a significant level of concern within the local community that the existing speed zoning is inappropriate along Bath Road.
- A review of the crash history for the five-year reporting period 2016-2020 indicated there were 16 crashes along the section of Bath Road between Morley Drive and Walter Road West of which 14 crashes occurred collectively at the intersections of Bath Road with both Morley Drive and Walter Road West.
- The City of Bayswater submitted a Black Spot application for the installation of a roundabout at the Morley Drive/Bath Road intersection in 2020 for funding in the 2021-2022 financial year due to the high incidence of right-angle crashes at this location. This was withdrawn and instead will be delivered by the State Government through an election commitment and is expected to be completed by mid-2025.
The City completed and submitted a speed zoning application in August 2021. The speed limit was approved by Main Roads WA and reduced to 50km/h in February 2022.
- Yellow advisory signs “Remember 50 in built up areas” were installed to signify this change in speed limit
The Road Safety Toolkit[1] states that regulating traffic speed to levels commensurate with the road environment is crucial to the delivery of forgiving roads and has a potential casualty reduction of 25-40%.
[1]https://toolkit.irap.org/safer-road-treatments/speed-management-and-traffic-calming/
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