Victorian councillor pushes for 140km/h speed limits

A Victorian councillor has made a public push to have speed limits on the Hume Highway raised to 140km/h, claiming the move would result in fewer accidents.

Wodonga politician Tim Quilty said the current signposted limit of 110km/h was a means of revenue raising and contributed to accidents caused by driver fatigue.

Cr Quilty, who is running for a seat in the Upper House for the Liberal Democrats, claimed the simple answer was to raise limits.

“It’s too slow, anyone who drives that road on a regular basis knows it’s a good road,” Quilty told Melbourne radio station 3AW.

“It’s just a way of raising revenue.

“Most of us do know how to drive, not everyone has to drive at 140km/h it is a two lane road. You get there quicker, fatigue is less, accidents would be reduced.”

Quilty’s remarks will likely win support from some Victorian motorists, flying in the face of the “speed kills” messaging that underwrites Victoria’s road safety strategy.

Predictably, it will also draw the ire of those in power. In the past, politicians, the Australian Medical Association and other road safety stakeholders have condemned proposals to increase the speed limits, vehemently arguing it would contribute to a higher road toll.

“The number one of cause of accidents on that road (the Hume), I believe, is fatigue,” Cr Quilty argued.

This isn’t the first time a politician has dabbled with the idea of higher speed limits. NSW senator David Leyonhjelm has long lobbied for higher speed limits, and in 2015, then NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay floated the idea of raising limits on the Hume and Pacific Highways to 120km/h.

Highway speed limits in Australia have remained unchanged since they were set in the 1970s, when the Holden Kingswood was the car of the day.

The Northern Territory was the most recent state to adjust its speed limits, when it lowered the signposted limit on Stuart Highway from a de-restricted zone to 130km/h. The move coincided with the Labor party coming back into power, and came after a two-year de-restricted trial during which time there were no speed-related fatalities.

Moreover, when open speed limits were abolished by the former Territory Labor government in 2006 and replaced by a maximum limit of 130km/h, more people died on Territory roads (307) in the six years after than in the six years before the change (292).

The road toll in Australia fell 5.5 per cent between 2016 and 2017, as speed cameras raked in more than $1.1 billion in revenue nationally.

In the latest available OECD report on road deaths, Australia ranks 14th internationally out of 32 countries recorded, with 5.05 road deaths recorded per 100,000 population.

That figure compares with 2.26 and 2.66 respectively for Norway and Sweden, and 4.26 for Germany, which runs extensive sections of derestricted autobahn.