The Stonnington Council, which governs several metro suburbs such as Prahran, Windsor and Toorak, will launch a two-year trial that lowers the posted speed to 30 km/h on twelve heavily used streets, including Chapel Street, Toorak Road and Punt Road. The trial is scheduled to commence on 19 October 2026 and will continue until 23 April 2028.
The local authority is testing reduced speed limits in densely populated areas such as school zones and shopping precincts, as well as on roads with key bike routes, to reduce fatalities and serious road injuries among vulnerable road users. Between 2000 and 2024, more than 1500 crashes were recorded in the area, of which seven led to fatalities and 564 serious injuries, while 60 per cent of fatal and serious injuries involved pedestrians, cyclists and motorcycle riders.
Locations and Crash Data
The council has confirmed that no speed-camera enforcement will be active while the trial runs. Crash records for the area between 2000 and 2024 total more than 1 500 incidents, resulting in seven fatalities and 564 serious injuries; pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists accounted for roughly 60% of the fatal and severe cases. The announcement notes that “research shows that when a person walking is hit by a vehicle travelling at 30km/h, their chance of survival is around 90 per cent. At 40km/h this drops to 60 per cent, and at 50 km/h to around 10 per cent.”
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Locations include Glen Iris Osborne Avenue from Milton Parade to High Street; Malvern Ewan Street, Lysterville Avenue, Jordan Street, McArthur Street and Parslow Street; Prahran Bendigo Street from Malvern Road to High Street, Murray Street, Wrights Terrace and Spring Street from Bendigo Street to Chatsworth Road; Chatsworth Road from Malvern Road to High Street, Chromley Street and Closeburn Avenue from High Street to Dandenong Road; Greville Street from Punt Road to Charles Street, and Charles Street from Commercial Road to Greville Street; Chapel Street from Toorak Road to Dandenong Road; Windsor Chapel Street from Toorak Road to Dandenong Road and Hornby Street from McIlwrick Street to Dandenong Road; Toorak Canterbury Road from Toorak Road to Edward Street, Brookville Road from Mathoura Road to Canterbury Road and Fairbarn Road from Brookville Road to Edward Street; South Yarra Chapel Street from Toorak Road to Dandenong Road, Cromwell Road and Surrey Road from Toorak Road to Malvern Road; and Armadale Northcote Road and Densham Road from Rose Street to Munro Street.
Results from Other Trials
Stonnington Council joins other jurisdictions such as the City of Yarra in reducing speed limits along some roads to 30 km/h. As reported in October 2025, the Victorian government implemented a new law that allowed councils to reduce speed limits to 30 km/h. The council looked at Victorian Government crash data from other areas where a 30 km/h speed limit had been introduced. “The data shows a 51 per cent reduction in all crashes and a 70 per cent reduction in serious crashes in those locations.”
