Go 40 for me – School Zone speed reduction in Western Sydney

The NSW Government aims to halve the road toll by 2010. Managing speed is a central part of this strategy (Road Safety 2010). The establishment of 40km/h zones outside most NSW schools and lower speed limits in other areas of high pedestrian usage is a major plank of the speed management plan of the Roads and Traffic Authority.

The establishment of 40km/h zones is only effective when driver compliance is gained. This project illustrates an effective and simple 40km/h school zone speed reduction project undertaken and involving all western Sydney areas. The project illustrates a practitioner model, which is easily replicated, sustainable, acceptable to the public and highly visible. The project was first undertaken in 2002 and has been fully evaluated in terms of a process evaluation, distributed resources and a telephone survey response to the project.

I believe that the paper will be of interest as a practical use of research that indicates that small decreases in speed result in large savings of pedestrian life. Also the project effectively involves large populations of people in an organised and highly visible project delivery.