Safe speeds

Safe Speeds ensure that speed limits are appropriately set to reduce the risk of a crash occurring on the road.

Speed is the single biggest factor in road deaths, contributing to about 40% of road fatalities each year in NSW. Speeding includes excess speed (exceeding the speed limit) and inappropriate speed (travelling faster than what is reasonable in the prevailing conditions).

Speed limits are set to give drivers enough time to detect hazards and take necessary actions to avoid crashes and increase their chances of survival. Road safety behavioural programs and improved vehicle technology can also help ensure safe speeds.

Programs include public education around the impacts of speeding including the most recent campaign 'Casual Speeding - Every K counts'.

Improved vehicle technology includes initiatives as part of the NSW Automated Enforcement Strategy. We manage enforcement cameras including fixed speed cameras, fixed red light speed cameras, mobile speed cameras and point-to-point speed cameras for heavy vehicles.

Human tolerance to crash impact speeds

We take many factors into account when setting speed limits, including the human body’s threshold of physical resistance to the energy released during crashes, the road’s function and the type of users of the road. It’s also important to make sure that the layout of the road and its surroundings match that function as much as possible.

The figure below shows the human body’s tolerance to crash impacts based on consistent crash evaluation evidence around the world. It highlights why it’s important to manage speed in all environments.

There's a 90% chance of surviving and avoiding serious injury at these speeds in different crash types
	Drivers and passengers in cars shouldn’t be exposed to oncoming vehicles travelling at speeds of over 70 km/h or higher (or 50km/h if vehicles are of significantly different weights).
	Drivers and passengers in cars shouldn’t be exposed to cross-traffic (90-degree angle) at speeds of 50km/h or higher.
	Drivers and passengers shouldn't be exposed to side impact with hazards such as trees and poles at 30km/h or higher.
	Pedestrians and cyclists shouldn’t be exposed to vehicle travel speeds higher than 30km/h - managed by physical separation or speed limit changes.

Safe speed zones 

Speed zones across NSW are constantly reviewed and assessed in accordance with the NSW Speed Zoning Standard. Factors that inform these assessments include crash profile; road function, use and characteristics; roadside development; traffic mix; crash history; and the presence of vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and motorcycle and bicycle riders.

We are the only authority in NSW that can install speed zones.

Automated enforcement

We manage automated enforcement including fixed speed cameras, fixed red light speed cameras, mobile speed cameras and point-to-point speed cameras for heavy vehicles.

Key road safety enforcement initiatives that motivate and educate road users to comply with the road rules are detailed below.

Initiatives

• NSW Automated Enforcement Strategy for road safety
• This strategy provides an overarching framework to manage the automated enforcement programs used in NSW.
• This strategy uses technology to implement more innovative, flexible and sustainable solutions in responding to existing and emerging road trauma issues and risks in NSW.
  
  
• Speed and red-light cameras
• Camera enforcement is one of the most effective, evidence-based measures in preventing speeding. There are four types of speed cameras currently used in NSW. Each are used in different ways to encourage drivers to comply with the speed limit.
• Fixed speed cameras – detect speeding at specific, high-risk locations.
• Red-light speed cameras – detect speeding and red-light running at specific signalised intersections.
• Mobile speed cameras – detect speeding across the road network by moving around various locations at various times, at a scale and network spread to support the perception of ‘anywhere, anytime’ enforcement.
• Average speed cameras – detect heavy vehicle speeding between two points on specific high volume and/or high-risk routes. From 1 May 2025, a trial commenced in two separate average speed camera locations on limited stretches of highway in regional NSW to also enforce light vehicle speeding from 1 July 2025.