Community Safe Speed Promise

What Does it Mean?

The Community Safe Speed Promise provides a means for the community to work together with their Local Government to reduce travel speeds and take control of road safety on their local streets.

The Program encourages residents to sign a Safe Speed Promise and commit to driving within the speed limit.

The Local Government then provides the resident with a bumper sticker so that they are easily identifiable and can set an example for other motorists to follow.

The act of making this commitment increases the likelihood that the person will make a concerted effort to drive within the speed limit. It also works at the population level, building community support for reduced travel speeds.

Why Focus on Safe Speeds?

Around 50 people are killed on Western Australian roads each year because of speed, with many more seriously injured. Speeding is not just driving faster than the posted speed limit, it is also driving too fast for the prevailing weather, light, traffic and road conditions.

Travel speeds greatly influence the chances of surviving a crash, whatever the cause of the collision.

The risk of being involved in a crash resulting in injury in a 60km/h speed zone doubles with every five kilometres an hour increase in driving speed above the limit. This means travelling at 65km/h in a 60km/h speed zone doubles the chance of having a crash resulting in injury. Travelling at 70km/h increases the chance of crashing by four times and travelling at 80km/h increases this chance by 32 times.

Research shows that dropping three to five kilometres an hour on average travel speed could see an 18 per cent decrease in fatalities in urban areas and a nine per cent decrease across the state.

Pedestrians also stand to benefit with a recent study showing that 32 per cent of pedestrians killed would have survived if the vehicle was travelling five kilometres slower, and one in 10 would have not been hit at all.

Source: Road Safety Commission.

For more information, contact your Regional Road Safety Advisor or download the Community Safe Speed Promise information by visiting the Resources section of this website.