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NSW Senator proposes motorist-set speed limits, 140km/h freeways

Liberal Democratic Party Senator David Leyonhjelm has proposed road rule changes that would replace existing speed limits with those set by motorists.


A NSW senator, and former chairman of the NSW Shooters Party, Leyonhjelm is proposing all Australian states adopt an 85th percentile method of setting speed limits, meaning motorists, not "anonymous unelected bureaucrats", would set limits.

A formula founded on the assumption that the majority of drivers are reasonable and do not want to crash, the proposed method entails resetting speed limits based on the monitored speeds travelled by 85 per cent of drivers in areas where limits have been removed.

According to Leyonhjelm's proposal, Police and state bodies such as the NSW Roads and Maritime Services and VicRoads would be in charge of monitoring motorists’ speeds over a one- to two-month period, with suburban streets being exempt.

Leyonhjelm said the National Road Safety Strategy was lying to the public by claiming "no person should be killed or seriously injured" while driving.

"That's only achievable if speeds are reduced to about 20km/h …. fairly obviously that's unacceptable to the community," Leyonhjelm said.

"Instead of being treated like sinful children and a source of revenue, motorists should be the ones who decide what the limits are.

"I think the public would travel at that [140km/h] speed if [freeway] speed limits were removed."

With his plan also including the removal of some 40km/h zones, Leyonhjelm said, "If there were no police, no speed cameras anywhere near them [motorists], nobody would travel at 40km/h."

In response to the proposal, a spokesperson from the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development said since the introduction of the National Road Safety Strategy “road deaths across the nation have declined by 16 per cent".

In the past, Senator Leyonhjelm has suggested the public should carry weapons to help reduce gun crime and put forward a plan to charge asylum seekers $50,000 to come to Australia "through the front door".

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