The Australian government has abandoned plans to reduce speed limits on unsigned roads after the “blanket approach” was rejected by state and territory ministers across the country.
Current federal law requires that roads outside built-up areas without signposts have a standard speed limit of 100 km/h – regardless of whether they are sealed or not.
The Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and Arts is considering reducing the speed limit from 100 km/h on unsigned roads to reduce tolls in regional areas.
The department conducted a public consultation process to receive feedback on the idea of removing the standard 100 km/h speed limit. The submission deadline was October 27, 2025 as the community response was considered.
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Approximately 11,000 individual submissions were received by the department by the end of the feedback period.
“At the meeting of infrastructure and transport ministers on Friday (November 21), states and territories raised concerns about a blanket approach to speed limits and reiterated their responsibility for setting speed limits in their areas of responsibility,” said a spokeswoman for federal transport minister Catherine King, as reported by the ABC.
“All ministers agreed to ensure no further work was undertaken to take it forward.”
The move was welcomed by Cam Dumesny, chief executive of the Western Roads Federation – an organization “formed to provide a strong, unified voice for companies using WA (Western Australia) roads for commercial purposes”.
“We support road safety, but the blanket approach was not appropriate,” he told the radio station ABC Regional Drive WA. “Speed limits won’t solve attitude problems; that’s certainly a big problem.”
The now rejected plan was submitted as part of the Australian Government’s National Road Safety Action Plan 2023-25, which promised to develop a Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) for the transition.
“Some roads outside built-up areas, particularly in regional and remote areas, may not be safe to drive at 100km/h,” the Ministry of Infrastructure website says, explaining that many roads are poorly maintained and in poor condition, increasing the risk of accidents.
“Driving at up to 100km/h on such roads may be unsafe and increases the risk of accidents, deaths and serious injuries. Reducing travel speeds on these roads can help prevent the tragedy of road accidents, injuries and deaths by setting a speed limit that is safe for drivers and road users.”
According to the department’s data, the risk of death on rural roads is 11 times higher than in a major Australian city – with road tolls in the 12-month period ending June 2025 reaching their highest level in 15 years.
“We know that in a head-on collision at 100 kilometers per hour the chance of survival is almost zero,” said WA Center for Road Safety Research deputy director Paul Roberts.
“At a speed of 70 (km/h) you have a 90 percent chance of surviving a head-on collision, so 80 or 90 (km/h) was a good compromise.
“It’s not safe, but it’s a lot safer than 100.”
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