The Heart Foundation has welcomed the City of Fremantle’s proposal to impose a 40km/h speed limit across several of Fremantle’s commercial and residential streets.
City of Fremantle’s proposal would see the expansion of 40km/h speed zones that are already established across Fremantle’s CBD to North Coogee and South Fremantle.
The idea will go to vote at a committee meeting before going to an ordinary council meeting later this month for final approval.
Heart Foundation Comment:
Heart Foundation WA CEO Sarah Fordham said that reducing speed limits in high pedestrian use areas provides a safe space for active travel which will help build healthier communities.
“We congratulate the City of Fremantle on this plan. Having lower speed limits in neighbourhood streets with high activity will help address safety concerns that can be a barrier to people travelling by foot or bike.
“Creating environments that support Western Australians to be more active is crucial especially when more than 4 in 10 Western Australian adults are not active enough for good health.
“Walking-friendly cities also gain social and economic benefits. When people walk, there are opportunities to socialise, support local businesses, and feel more connected along the way.
Lowering speed limits is a great start but we would love to see an overarching walking strategy be developed for WA to link everything together and attach walking to the fundamentals of our state’s planning, transport and business.
“If done properly, it would embed changes to the core planning of our cities and suburbs and factor into state-wide transport planning in ways that encourage people to walk more.
“The Heart Foundation continues to work with state and local governments to encourage and help them improve the walkability of neighbourhoods through our Community Walkability Checklist, which asks individuals and groups to rate the walkable elements of their community and provide feedback.”
