Safe and appropriate speed limits

Safe speeds are fundamental to improving safety, saving lives, and preventing debilitating injuries. Safe speeds also generate wider societal benefits, including reduced climate change impacts of road transport, increased fuel and vehicle efficiency, improved inclusion and walkability, improved accessibility, and greater physical activity.

A safe and appropriate speed limit is a speed limit that is safe according to standards set by the Safe System and appropriate in terms of aligning with community wellbeing objectives as well as with the movement and place function, design and infrastructure of the street or road.

Video: The Sign of a Safe Speed

Safe System threshold speeds are speeds that are well established in evidence to give the best chance of survival without serious injury to anyone involved in a crash. The street categories of the One Network Framework indicate the movement and place function of a street or road, considering land use and the types of road users present.

One Network Framework street categories

Design and infrastructure criteria that should be considered when assessing a safe and appropriate speed limit include the information available in national level datasets, such as the width and alignment of the road, and also information available only at a local level, such as the presence and design of separated cycling infrastructure and pedestrian crossing facilities.