Reducing residential speed limits from 50km\/h to 30 km\/h would protect cyclists from danger and make riding less stressful while not causing traffic delays for cars, according to new research.<\/p>\n
Researchers from RMIT University rated traffic stress levels for every road in greater Melbourne and modelled the effect of lower speed limits on bicycle and car travel.<\/p>\n
Reducing the speed limit to 30km\/h across residential areas doubled the amount of bike travel on low-stress streets \u2013 creating a safer environment for children and less confident cyclists, said the study\u2019s lead researcher, Dr Afshin Jafari.<\/p>\n
\u201cSlowing traffic makes bicycle riding less stressful, encouraging more people to choose bikes as a safe and viable mode of transport,\u201d Jafari said.<\/p>\n
Many existing cycle routes \u2013 narrow paths on 60km\/h roads \u2013 were highly stressful for bicycle riders, which is one of the main reasons people choose not to ride, he said.<\/p>\n
Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n Meanwhile, the study \u2013 which was published in Cycling and Micromobility Research<\/a> \u2013 found car travel was barely affected by the 30km\/h limit, as it was only applied on local streets rather than the busier roads \u2013 such as main roads or highways \u2013 that were designed to maximise the flow of traffic.<\/p>\n The findings come as Victoria enacts a new speed limit law<\/a> allowing councils to propose 30km\/h limits in school zones and local streets.<\/p>\n The director of the Institute for Sensible Transport<\/a>, Dr Elliot Fishman, who was not involved in the study, said cycling rates in Australia were low \u2013 about 2% of trips to work \u2013 and had barely shifted in the past 20 years, despite state and local government ambitions.<\/p>\n In cities such as Sydney and Melbourne, there were huge numbers of short trips (under 5km) made by car that were instead suitable for cycling.<\/p>\n Each day, more than 6m trips<\/a> shorter than 5km were driven in Greater Sydney, over 2m of these being of less than 2km. In Melbourne, more than half<\/a> of non-work trips were a \u201cbikeable distance\u201d of under 5km.<\/p>\n \u201cThe main reason people are choosing to make those trips by car rather than cycling is that they don\u2019t feel safe riding a bike,\u201d Fishman said.<\/p>\n Lowering the speed limit would save lives, he said, and was a key reason why some countries \u2013 including the Netherlands, where 28% of all trips are by bike \u2013 have adopted 30km\/h as a standard on residential streets.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cIf you get hit by a car travelling at 50km\/h, you\u2019ve only got a 1.5-in-10 chance of surviving. If it\u2019s going 30km\/h you\u2019ve got a nine-in-10 chance,\u201d Fishman said.<\/p>\n But it was not enough to put up a sign that says 30km\/h, he said; there also needed to be design changes to slow down traffic.<\/p>\n Fishman\u2019s research has shown modal filters \u2013 which use traffic management tools and landscaping to discourage \u201crat-running\u201d (the practice of taking shortcuts between traffic arteries through residential streets) \u2013 were the most effective at improving safety and cycling rates.<\/p>\n By 2030, transport is likely to overtake electricity to become Australia\u2019s largest emitting sector, according to the Climate Change Authority. It is the only sector where emissions are increasing, according to government data<\/a>.<\/p>\n