South Australian motorists and others have been invited to register their say on lowering speed limits on beaches to make them safer for beachgoers.
The Department for Infrastructure and Transport (DIT) has raised the issue saying that between 2017 and 2021, 29 crashes on beaches were reported resulting in the loss of one life, 15 serious injuries and 13 minor injuries.
The Department reported that speed was a contributing factor in approximately 50 per cent of the crashes.
It said beaches in the State were currently considered ‘road-related areas’ under the Road Traffic Act 1961 and the Australian Road Rules, which meant the default speed limit for non-built-up areas where there were no signed limit areas was100km per hour.
The Department said that as part of the review to improve beach safety, it has launched a yourSAy survey seeking feedback relating to four options to manage speed limits on beaches better.
The four options include:
Option 1: A default beach speed limit of 40km/h;
Option 2: A default beach speed limit of 25km/h;
Option 3: A default beach speed limit of 40km/h and 25km/h when passing or within 100 metres of a pedestrian; or
Option 4: No change to the default speed limits.
DIT said it was calling on the community to provide feedback on the options and had produced a discussion paper Speed Limits on the Beaches.
It said it had previously approved a speed limit of 10 km/h for Moana, Aldinga and Sellicks beaches and recently approved a 40km/h speed limit for Goolwa Beach in the interest of road safety.
The consultation closes Friday, 17 March with access to the YourSAy website and discussion paper available at this PS News link.
