Police not sold on blanket speed limit

The State Government has proposed to lower the speed limit across WA to 100kmh, but police in the region believe the measure may not be the solution to stopping fatalities.

The proposal to change the limit is part of the State's 10-year Towards Zero road toll strategy led by WA’s Road Safety Commission.

Manjimup Acting officer-in-charge Nick Howe said the Government and the commission should look at changing the limit on individual roads, rather than enforcing it across the whole State.

“There are a lot of roads which do not need to be 100kmh because they are very safe and straightforward to drive, such as the road from Bunbury to Perth,” Const. Howe said.

“110kmh is fine for these roads and changing the limit is not a necessity at all and may even increase the risk of speeding if people get impatient.”

While he disagreed with the overall change, Const. Howe said there were some roads in the area which should have a different limit.

“One example is Seven Day Road, where the speed limit is 110kmh at the moment,” he said.

“There is no speed sign on that road which means you can legally drive the national limit of 110kmh, but it is definitely not safe to go that fast in my opinion.”

He said the State Government should look at roads such as this one in order to reduce the number of crashes.

“When it comes to car accidents, speed is one aspect, but usually it is people not paying attention to the road conditions,” Const. Howe said.

“No blanket limit can really reduce these incidents, but looking at limits in individual sections of roads may be beneficial around here.”