Melbourne's Stonnington council to trial 30km/h limits on Chapel Street and 11 other areas from October 19

What is changing and when

Stonnington Council will replace existing 40km/h speed limits with 30km/h limits across 12 areas of Melbourne's inner south-east from Monday, October 19, 2026 through to Sunday, April 23, 2028, as part of an 18-month trial. CarExpert reports the move is supported by Victoria's Department of Transport and Planning and includes the Chapel Street nightlife strip in South Yarra between Toorak Road and Dandenong Road, plus streets in Prahran, Toorak, Armadale, Malvern and Glen Iris. Yahoo News Australia confirms the October 19 start date and adds that the 12 areas span parts of Prahran, Windsor, South Yarra, Toorak, Armadale, Malvern and Glen Iris. ¹⁴

The SBS Tamil service also reported the new trial lowering speed limits for vehicles in selected areas of Melbourne, in coverage published on October 5, 2026. ²

Why these locations were chosen

A City of Stonnington spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia the trial areas were chosen because they are near schools, shopping areas and key cycling routes where there are more vulnerable road users such as children and pedestrians, and that community feedback also helped shape the locations. According to CarExpert, the council said in a statement that areas included in the trial are near schools, key bike routes and shopping precincts, and that the trial will help it understand how lower speed limits work in different neighbourhoods and how they may affect safety, travel times, congestion and the way people use local streets. ⁴¹

The stated purpose of the trial is to measure how lower speed limits affect safety, travel times, congestion and the way people use local streets in a real-world setting, with community feedback collected throughout, the Stonnington spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia. Feedback can be submitted on the council's website, CarExpert reports, and will be considered alongside road traffic data and safety data when the council decides whether the lower limits should become permanent after the trial. ⁴¹

The safety evidence council and researchers cite

Stonnington Council says there were more than 1500 crashes within its boundaries between 2020 and 2024, including seven fatalities and 564 serious injuries. CarExpert notes the council area had a population of 114,789 as of 2025 according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures. The council's website states that a person walking hit by a vehicle travelling at 30km/h has around a 90 per cent chance of surviving, dropping to 60 per cent at 40km/h and around 10 per cent at 50km/h. ¹

The council says it examined Victorian government crash data from other areas where 30km/h limits have been introduced, and that the data shows a 51 per cent reduction in all crashes and a 70 per cent reduction in serious crashes in those locations, as reported by CarExpert. The Victorian Government is funding four councils to trial 30km/h speed limits, including along Chapel Street, through its Safe Local Roads and Streets Program, which helps councils deliver safety infrastructure upgrades; Government News reported that announcement in May 2026, noting the trials will help the government determine whether lower speed limits can improve road safety. ¹⁶

Transport researcher Dr Afshin Jafari, an RMIT research fellow specialising in computational methods for sustainable transport, told Yahoo News Australia that lower speeds give drivers more time to react and reduce impact severity, citing a systematic review that estimated pedestrian fatality risk at around 5 per cent at a 30km/h impact speed, rising to 10 per cent at approximately 37km/h. In AAP-reported comments, he cited severe injury rates of one in four at a 40km/h impact speed and one in two or one in three at 50km/h. ⁴³

Dr Jafari's modelling of lowering residential limits from 50km/h to 30km/h across Greater Melbourne found the share of cycling routes classed in the lowest-stress category would jump from about 28 per cent to 63 per cent, Yahoo News Australia reports, while AAP notes his work indicates it would double safe riding over an average journey and likely reduce rat-running. In a separate study, he estimated a roughly 50 per cent relative increase in cycling uptake under the lower-limit scenario. ⁴³

Dr Lauren Pearson of Monash University's Sustainable Mobility & Safety Research Group told AAP that 30km/h limits are widely used in Europe and parts of the UK, North America and New Zealand, citing a 46 per cent reduction in fatal and serious injuries in London with an 8 per cent reduction in adjacent areas, and an increase in active travel to school in Wales from 47 per cent to 74 per cent after a blanket 20mph limit. She suggested trial data could lead to a broader rollout beyond Melbourne, potentially including regional towns. ³

Better Streets Australia, in a March 2026 advocacy piece on the fuel crisis, also pointed to a 2024 systematic review of European cities with 30km/h limits, finding higher rates of walking and cycling, reductions in crashes, fatalities and injuries, 7 per cent lower fuel consumption, better air quality and less traffic noise, with only minimal increases in car travel times. ⁵

Travel time impact and motoring group position

Yahoo News Australia reports that RACV does not support blanket reductions to default local speed zones, but believes there is a case for lower speeds when a clear safety issue has been determined and after genuine community engagement. An RACV spokesperson told the publication that its research consistently shows public support for 30km/h default speed limits is low, but higher around schools, childcare centres and shopping precincts, and that lowering the limit on a local street has a minimal impact on travel times. ⁴

Dr Jafari told Yahoo News Australia that motorists may overestimate the impact, saying his modelling of changing all residential streets in Greater Melbourne to 30km/h found that even for car trips largely using residential streets, the average increase was about one minute. AAP likewise reports his modelling indicates typical car travel times would rise by about one minute, and he argued the main barrier is perception rather than measured effect, saying he believes pushback will lessen as more trials show travel times do not increase significantly. ⁴³

Victorian context and national backdrop

CarExpert reports the Stonnington trial follows Yarra City Council's introduction of slower speed zones in 2018 and the City of Melbourne's in 2020, with the City of Yarra's trial expanding in 2024 after beginning in Fitzroy and Collingwood. AAP similarly notes City of Yarra has piloted 30km/h limits in parts of Fitzroy and Collingwood since 2018, that NSW has had 30km/h zones in Manly since 2020, and that the Victorian government in May 2026 announced funding grants for four council trials including Chapel Street plus areas in Brunswick and Coburg. Other Australian 30km/h zones include precincts in Liverpool, Wollongong and Newcastle, and Western Australia trialled 30km/h zones through its Safe Active Streets Pilot Program, CarExpert reports. ¹³

A report published online in March 2026 found the WA program delivered positive outcomes, although it recorded drivers in some areas not driving slower, suggesting further measures may be needed to reduce vehicle speeds, according to CarExpert. AAP reports that Victoria's speed zoning policy was updated in August to make it easier for councils to create 30km/h limits, but final approval still rests with the state. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan told AAP the government would monitor the latest trials to determine if lower speed limits improved road safety, stating: "I want to make clear that no decision has been made." ¹³

CarExpert reports that, according to Australian Government data, fatal crashes in zones with a speed limit of 40km/h or less saw the greatest increase over the past 12 months, jumping from 28 to 50 fatal crashes, a rise of 78.6 per cent. The national road toll fell 1.1 per cent to 1313 deaths over the same period, but vulnerable road-user deaths rose 1.0 per cent to 509 from 504, and Australia remains off track against the National Road Safety Strategy 2021-30, which targets halving annual road deaths from a 2018-2020 baseline average of 1142 to 571 or fewer by 2030. ¹

For broader context, AAP notes the default built-up-area speed is 50km/h in every Australian state and territory except the Northern Territory, dropping to 40km/h in school zones except in South Australia where it is 25km/h. Transport for NSW confirmed in September there were no plans for a 30km/h zone across Sydney's CBD, after Premier Chris Minns had previously declared pedestrians "could walk quicker than that". ³

What happens next

Yahoo News Australia reports that Stonnington will monitor speeds, travel times, cyclist and pedestrian movements, near misses and community feedback during the trial before deciding what happens next. CarExpert adds that the council will consider community feedback alongside road traffic data and safety data to evaluate whether the lower limits should become permanent after the trial concludes in April 2028. The Victorian Government's funding of four council trials through the Safe Local Roads and Streets Program indicates the trials' results will inform the state's view on whether lower speed limits can improve road safety, as Government News reported in May 2026. ⁴¹⁶