The Victorian government has announced funding grants to four councils for more 30km/h limit trials, including along Melbourne's popular Chapel Street and areas in Brunswick and Coburg.
City of Yarra has piloted 30km/h limits in parts of Fitzroy and Collingwood since 2018, while the NSW government has had 30km/h zones in Manly since 2020.
It is clear something needs to be done to protect vulnerable road users in busy areas, says Afshin Jafari, an expert specialising in computational methods to explore sustainable transport.
"The rate of severe injury is one in four at 40km/h impact speed and it's one in two or one in three at 50km/h," according to the RMIT research fellow.
Dr Jafari's modelling on lowering limits from 50km/h to 30km/h indicates it would double safe riding over the course of an average journey while lifting typical car travel times by about one minute.
It would also likely reduce rat-running.
"The main barrier here is people's perception of it increasing travel time by a lot and making congestion worse," Dr Jafari said.
"As we end up doing more of the trials and we see that it's not going to increase travel time and make it safer for everyone, I believe we'll get less of a pushback."
Lauren Pearson from Monash University's Sustainable Mobility & Safety Research Group noted 30km/h limits were used widely in Europe, as well as parts of the UK, North America and New Zealand.
"In London, there was a 46 per cent reduction in fatal and serious injuries and then an eight per cent reduction in adjacent areas," she said.
"And in Wales, where they had a blanket 20m/h as well, they had an increase in active travel to school from 47 per cent to 74 per cent."
Victoria's speed zoning policy was updated in August to make it easier for councils to create 30km/h limits but final approval still rests with the state.
Dr Pearson said complex policy hurdles had contributed to Australia's slower and "piecemeal" uptake of 'go-slow' zones but suggested trial data could lead to a broader rollout.
"That then enables people well outside of Melbourne ... maybe regional towns, to think maybe this is something that's applicable in our context," she said.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said the government would monitor the latest trials to determine if lower speed limits improved road safety.
"I want to make clear that no decision has been made," she said.
The default speed in build-up areas is 50km/h in every Australian state or territory apart from the Northern Territory.
It drops to 40km/h in school zones except in South Australia where it is 25km/h.
Other busy areas, including shopping precincts and CBD zones, are subject to 40km/h limits in Victoria, NSW and elsewhere.
In September, Transport for NSW confirmed there were "no plans" to implement a 30km/h zone across Sydney's CBD after Premier Chris Minns previously declared pedestrians "could walk quicker than that".
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