Victorian Speed Limit Review Released

VicRoads has (finally) released their speed limit review after announcing it and taking submissions many months ago.

http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/SafetyAndRules/SafetyIssues/Speed+Limit+Review/?intcmp=HPE000110/

Few major points which come from it which I think are great:

Remove 80 km/h buffer zones and replace with '60 ahead' signs on the approaches to rural towns.
I think the previous government started doing this but it got halted, so to see this task completed will be great.

Review the 70 km/h and 90 km/h speed limits on Victorian Roads
This basically means Victoria is following NSW's lead at exterminating 70 and 90 zones. I'm not too sure about this one, because there are some 70 roads in my area where 60 is too slow and 80 is too fast and I'm afraid that most 70 roads will end up going down to 60.

Increase the speed limit on some collector roads to 60 km/h
This is my favourite recommendation. In my area, there is a lot of collector roads that warrant a 60 but got slashed to 50 ten years ago. Bring this one on I say!

VicRoads will allow local governments to change permanant 40 km/h school speed zones to time-based 40 km/h zones
Finally some common sense prevails. However disappointing that it's not an immediate blanket change. Council has to act to put these in place. I've noticed that Whitehorse Council started doing this on some roads a few months ago though.

VicRoads also stated that the Monash Freeway in the inner city will stay at 80 km/h because of ...the lack of emergency lanes and the limited sight distance...

Also, country freeways will not go higher than 110 km/h because it would ...increase the risk of crashes, add to transport costs through increased fuel consumption and produce high levels of emissions...which is disappointing as they stated that going 120 along the Hume for example would save 9 minutes over 200 km instead of doing 110.

Oh and there is a Google Map so you can find out changes in your area. Some are online now, more will be in the future they say. 
http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/SafetyAndRules/SafetyIssues/Speed+Limit+Review/MapOfSpeedLimitChanges.htm

Sorry it's been quite a while since my last post. Been quite busy of late!

The first 18 PSO's hit the beat at Flinders Street and Southern Cross

The first batch of Victoria Police's Protective Services Officers trained up to patrol railway platforms from 6pm to last train every night have begun their first patrols.

18 PSO's who have graduated from the Police Academy in Glen Waverley the friday before last have started their first shifts initially only at the city's two busiest stations - Flinders Street and Southern Cross. They have already seen some action involving helping police detain a drunk passenger. They will be rolled out to neighbouring interchange stations North Melbourne, Footscray and Richmond before being deployed across the network at manned stations, while the issue of places to detain troublemakers and toilet facilities at unmanned stations is sorted out.

Calls for Vermont Intersection to be Fully Signalised

The intersection of Boronia Road and Morack Road has been highlighted by concerned Vermont Primary and Secondary School personel as in need of an upgrade, with the current pedestrian traffic light crossing being inadequate.


Since EastLink opened back in mid 2008, traffic on Boronia Road has risen and it is now making the intersection more congested, especially around school drop off and pick up times. Despite the pedestrian lights having detector loops (sensors in the side street asphalt which pick up stopped vehicles, sending a signal to the pedestrian lights to change to red and giving side street vehicles a chance to access the main road), vehicles are spilling out perpendicular to the carriageway.


View Larger Map

Ventura Bus Lines has also complained, explaining that it is difficult for route 742 buses to get through the intersection and making the right hand turns. VicRoads have stated that there are currently no plans to upgrade the intersection in any way.

Source: "Stop signal for Vermont traffic lights" - Melbourne Weekly Eastern

Welcome to Melbourne Transport Solutions!

Welcome to my new blog! After abandoning the Melbourne Bike Routes blog some months ago, I've now have the passion to start a new blog, however I will now cover anything to do with transport in Melbourne. Instead of just bike news and issues, I will now cover trains, trams, buses, taxis, pedestrians and roads. I will post up rewritten news from various sources, voice my own opinions, put forward my own solutions to problems, raise problems which I think need to be solved as well as participate in discussion.