In various community consultations, Waverley residents raised concerns around pedestrian safety and the overwhelming need for cars to travel slower in their neighbourhoods.

It also will help achieve ‘vision zero’, with zero fatalities and minimal serious injuries and reflects our People, Movement and Places (2017) policy which aims to make it easier for everyone to travel by improving the quality of streetscapes and public places.

The People, Movement and Places policy, endorsed by Council has 12 signature projects. #1 - Better Streetscapes included a short term action to - reduce road speeds throughout the LGA.

The project has been broken up into stages. Stage 1 spans from Bondi Road and Syd Einfeld Drive to the southern boundary of the Local Government Area (LGA). However, Carrington Road, Council Street or Bondi Road are state roads so are not included in the proposed speed zone change.

Depending on results and feedback from community awareness campaign review and Council's and Transport for NSW approval, indicative timeframes are:

Bondi Rd, Carrington Rd and Council St are all State Government roads under review in other projects through Transport for NSW.

The stopping distance at 50km/h it is 35m. At 40km/h it is 26m.

Council do not enforce speed limits or earn any revenue from any NSW Police enforcement of the road rules. Waverley has a lot of High Pedestrian Activity, this change will be a massive benefit to pedestrians, cyclists and the broader community's safety.

The introduction of a 50km/h default urban speed limit within Australia resulted in a 23% reduction in casualty crashes, with public support for speed changes increasing significantly after the introduction of the lower speed limit. The widespread introduction of 40km/h school zones resulted in a further 24% reduction in pedestrian and bicycle crashes surrounding school areas.

Even good drivers make mistakes and many crashes involve two or more parties.

By slowing everyone down just a little, this may mean you are able to avoid a driver who isn’t paying attention to the road or a child that hasn’t looked before running out onto the streets.

Traffic calming treatments or devices assist in creating a self-enforced 40km/h speed environment. Example: road hump, pedestrian crossing, refuge island, medium strip. Please see 'Full list of traffic calming treatments and locations' for more information.

There is no evidence of increased road rage incidents in areas designated by either 40 km/h or 50 km/h speed limits. Delays to drivers are generally caused at intersections, from congestion and from finding a car park. We always recommend to residents who are concerned with this to try the difference before the 40 km/h speed limit is brought in and see the change in driving time.

High pedestrian areas are areas of high pedestrian activity, near shopping strips, railway stations, bus interchanges, beach-sides and services such as medical centers.

An arterial road is a state road – managed by Transport for NSW. Carrington Rd, Bondi Rd and Council St are arterial roads.

Wherever possible, the proposed designs aim to reduce parking loss. Throughout the entire project (38 traffic calming treatments), we anticipate only losing three spots on the corner of Queens Park Rd and Bourke Rd.

Council conducted consultation in 2019/2020 to gather feedback from the community on proposed traffic calming treatments in the LGA. Please visit our Council Transport page to find out more about our vision and priorities.