Speed limit is set to be slashed by 10km/h for millions of Australians after scores of drivers are killed in crashes
- The new proposal will mean speed limits in Western Australia are reduced
- 80 people have died this year in the state due to road accidents
- The road safety councils expects 1623 to die by 2030 if no changes are made
Speed limits could be slashed by 10km/h after a radical new proposal was made that will effect the lives of millions of drivers.
The Road Safety Council has planned to reduce all road limits in Western Australia after a massive increase in deaths caused by speeding.
The council claims that thousands of people will die and tens of thousands will be injured within the next ten years if there are no changes made to driving laws.
So far this year the death toll on roads in Western Australia is at 80 (file image)
The proposal means that all speed limits between 40kms/h to 110kms/h will have a 10km/h reduction.
'If we could consider as a community some of those bold steps, we could get a quicker saving of people's lives sooner,' Road Safety Council chairman, Iain Cameron told The West Australian.
This year, Western Australia has seen 80 deaths already from road related incidents.
The strategy plans to reduce road crashes to 1104 deaths and 10,478 injuries by the year 2030.
Mr Cameron said taking this step could be extremely beneficial, as most collisions are to do with minor mistakes and not risk taking behaviour.
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'Young drivers are safer today than they ever have been before,' he said.
'Today about 70 per cent of the crashes now are someone just making a mistake, being slightly tired, distracted or having a lapse in judgment.'
Results have shown that 40% of road deaths happened at a speed of 110kms/h.
Mr Cameron says the initiative could save lives sooner than changes to car technologies.
In 2001, the state reduced urban speed limits from 60 to 50kms/h, and its success has played a part in introducing the new program.
Speed limits in Western Australia will be reduced by 10kms/h if the proposal is put in place (file image)
In the last decade there has been a 30% decrease in road fatalities with experts favoring the idea to lower speeds.
Raising the age to get a P plate license to 18, as well as dropping alcohol levels to zero will not be implemented in the new strategy.
A consultation period for the proposal was launched on Saturday.
