Queensland’s Experience with Speed Limit Reductions on Black Links

A high priority action in the 2008/09 Queensland Road Safety Action Plan was to “Target identified roads with above average crash rates with speed limit reductions where road improvements are not feasible in the immediate term.” The premise for this action was that speed limit reductions, in combination with signage advising of crash risk and increased police enforcement, would provide a significant low cost mass action opportunity to reduce the number and severity of crashes. The (then) Departments of Transport and Main Roads collaborated with the Queensland Police Service to identify poorly performing corridors, which were termed black links . A report to the Queensland Cabinet recommended that approximately 60 km of roads be reduced to 90 km/h (from 100 km/h). The majority of the identified corridors formed part of the heavily trafficked federally funded national network. This paper outlines early experiences with the reduction of speed limits, which were implemented between December 2008 and April 2009. It encompasses site selection details, before and after speed surveys, crash history, high visual impact sign design and enforcement and media considerations.