Over half of all crashes in Stonnington — and 60% of fatal or serious injury crashes — involved vulnerable road users; people who were walking, riding a bike or riding a motorbike. About 70% of vulnerable road user crashes are occurring on streets managed by council, with Chapel Street among Melbourne’s most dangerous streets for people who ride bikes. In the five years from July 2015 to June 2020 there were 1373 crashes in Stonnington including eight fatalities and 404 serious injuries.

Our 2022 road safety consultation found people who live and work in Stonnington hold strong concerns about the safety of people walking and riding bikes. Almost half of survey respondents described Chapel Street as unsafe or very unsafe.

In 2012 Stonnington introduced 40km/h streets in parts of Toorak and Prahran in the area bordered by Punt Road, Toorak Road, Williams Road and Dandenong Road. In 2016 40 area speed zones were introduced to the residential precinct bordered by Williams Road, Orrong Road, Alexandra Avenue and Dandenong Road. More information is available here:

https://www.stonnington.vic.gov.au/Services/Road-m...

Council has evaluated the impact of the 40km/h speed limit on Council-controlled streets in these areas and found that overall crashes have reduced since the new limit was introduced. Following implementation, total crashes reported by police reduced from 70 to 38 (when comparing the three-year periods before and after they were introduced). The number of people injured in these crashes fell from 137 to 79, and the number of vulnerable road users (people walking, riding a bike or motorbike) who were injured fell from 46 to 22. The 40km/h speed limit in these areas has improved safety for everyone using our streets.

If a person walking is hit by a vehicle, their chance of surviving increases dramatically if the person driving travels at 40km/h or less.

Stonnington is delivering safer road speed and traffic-calming infrastructure including raised pedestrian crossings in busy areas. Raised crossings reduce tripping hazards for older and vision-impaired walkers, as well as making all walkers, including children, are more visible to drivers. Safer speeds reduce both the likelihood of, and the consequences of crashes.

In 2025, in line with an action in Council’s Road Safety Strategy we are proposing to roll out 40km/h areas to more of Stonnington’s busy neighbourhoods. We’ll take further steps to improve safety for vulnerable road users, including trialling 30kmh/h speed limits near schools, on local cycling streets, and on Chapel Street between Dandenong Road and Toorak Road. The 30km/h trials are aimed at reducing incidences of excessive speeding, while having minimal impacts on average vehicle journey times in parts of Stonnington frequented by vulnerable road users. This trial would be assessed after 18 months.