ROAD safety experts are calling for the Victorian speed limit to be lowered to 30km/h in many places including residential, school and high pedestrian activity areas.

But they concede it will be a tough sell to the many ­motorists who already oppose Melbourne’s present ­­­40km/h zones and who consider them to be speed camera cash grabs.

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Road safety consultant Bruce Corben, who worked as a researcher with Monash University Accident Research Centre for many years, said a 30km/h speed limit in certain areas would come with substantial safety and public health benefits.

“I understand the community may not be ready or support that change. It’s a progressive step, but one that we should be looking at,” Dr Corben said.

“It’s a conversation we need to be having.”

Dr Corben said the incidence of pedestrian death was strongly related to driver speed choices, and small reductions of the order of 5-10km/h led to major reductions in risk. “For example, choosing the travel speed of 30km/h in a busy pedestrian environment compared with, say, 40km/h, is estimated to reduce the risk of death to a pedestrian by almost 80 per cent,” he said.

“It is simply a matter of physics and acknowledging that humans can withstand only a limited amount of energy in a collision before the risk of injury or death starts to rise rapidly.”

Dr Corben urged decision-makers to look at the success of lowered speed limits overseas, such as in the UK and Sweden.

In London, research found that where 20mph (32km/h) limits were introduced, casualty crashes reportedly reduced by 42 per cent.

RMIT research fellow Associate Professor Richard Tay agreed all high pedestrian areas should have lower speed limits.

“I strongly support the existing 40km/h. I also think that these areas would benefit from lowering the speed limit to 30km/h,” Prof Tay said.

In the UK, a movement called 20sPlenty continues to lobby for 20mph (32km/h) as a default for local streets – it has already been implemented in several areas including London, Manchester and Oxford.

But RACV roads and traffic manager Dave Jones said the organisation would not support the push for 30km/h speed limits, and that Melbourne roads were very different to those in London.

“What people see in inner-city Europe is not what we see in suburban Melbourne,” Mr Jones said.

“Councils should be investing in changing the environment of the road and what the root cause of the safety problem is, not just popping a sign in and hoping that people will drive slower.”

The most recent figures show the top three earning speed cameras between July and September last year were in 40km/h zones.

A spokesperson for Roads Minister Luke Donnellan said the State Government was not considering introducing 30km/h zones.

“VicRoads regularly examines speed zones with both safety and driver behaviour in mind, and considers 40km/h an appropriate speed limit for high pedestrian areas,” the spokesperson said.