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No 24-hour school zone speed limits for NSW: O’Farrell

The New South Wales government will not introduce 24-hour school zone speed limits despite reports that permanent 40km/h strips were under consideration.


A story by News Limited yesterday claimed the NSW Parliament’s Staysafe committee was set to recommend around-the-clock 40km/h limits in school zones in a report it will deliver to the government tomorrow.

But NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell told reporters his government had no intention of advocating any such proposal.

“I've talked to the chairman of the committee [Greg Aplin]," O’Farrell said yesterday, as reported by AAP.

“There is no recommendation in his report to extend the hours of speed zones outside of schools.

“The only time you would ever consider changing speed zones outside schools is if schools ... wanted to change the times that school started.”

NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay told ABC News all of the committee’s recommendations would be examined, but insisted there was no need to introduce 24-hour school zone limits.

"I'm not overly excited about extending the hours in school zones,” Gay said.

"Twenty-four hours to me just seems way too long especially when children aren't there."

NSW’s drivers are currently limited to 40km/h in school zones between 8-9:30am and 2:30-4pm.

Other states and territories have different school zone policies. The speed limit in South Australian school zones is reduced to 25km/h at times when children are present, while in the ACT the 40km/h limit is applied in most school zones from 8am and 4pm Monday to Friday.

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