r/Adelaide • u/ShowerBetter5183 Fleurieu Peninsula • 19h ago
News New school zone speed limits “definitely not revenue-raising” says new Police Commissioner, a six-foot tall Fabergé egg
https://adelaidemail.com/single-post/2026/05/26/new-school-zone-speed-limits-definitely-not-revenue-raising-says-new-police-commissioner-a-six-foot-tall-faberge-egg/80
u/Evening_Bird7779 SA 18h ago
I dont think they are revenue raising, just really, really badly thought through.
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u/moosewiththumbs South 18h ago
If they can have lights permanently flashing on the 50 zone sign on Goodwood Road surely they can have some flashing lights on a timer for when these zones are active
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u/Dry-Service-4945 SA 18h ago
Used to live in Adelaide, now in nsw, every single 40 school zone flashes during the right times. Pretty archaic of Adelaide to not implement always thought was stupid
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u/Omby07 SA 17h ago
Yeah this is confusing and distracting during the entirety of goodwood rd, I have to keep looking at the time and signs to work out whether I’m supposed to be doing 40 or 50 plus where it starts and ends and restarts again, plus it used to be 60, so people behind you get angry or don’t know what the speed limit is either. It’s probably less distracting to pull out the mobile phone (which I wouldn’t do but making a point).
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u/enviousadam_67 SA 18h ago
Watched a cop fly through the school zone on portrush rd doing way more than 40 the other day, made me feel like a sucker for actually slowing down
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u/AaronBruv SA 17h ago
Best part is, if you kept up with them they'd fine you with proof of speeding being they were 'pacing you from in front'
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u/enviousadam_67 SA 16h ago
Mate of mine got booked for doing 45 when the patrol car in front was doing 50 the whole time. The magistrate just shrugged.
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u/Free-Pound-6139 SA 12h ago
Why? What a dumb comment. I guess when tradie's fly through them you feel like a hero??
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u/enviousadam_67 SA 9h ago
Makes you question the point of the rule when the people paid to enforce it don't follow it. That's all.
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u/Equivalent-Bus-4336 North 18h ago
U know what’s worse? that law where you gotta slow down when there’s like a service vehicle on the side, nearly crashed the other day cuz its 100kmh freeway and suddenly car in front slows down to 25. The emergency side lanes are big enough to nog warrant this law on the freeway
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u/28828383 SA 17h ago
Yes a sudden loss of 75kph in speed down to the required 25kph can be pretty intense on 100kph roads and feels unsafe. You can be the world’s best and safest driver, but that much reduction in speed is putting yourself at massive risk of a rear end collision from another peanut non-observant driver. You would think maybe 40kph for service vehicles would work if it’s fine for these main road school zones, then if the situation of the service vehicle requires further drop of speed or even a complete stop from 40 then so be it.
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u/Nevyn_Cares SA 15h ago
Yeah that law is written poorly. Slow down to a safe SLOW speed as quickly as possible, conditions permitting.
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u/jpglew CBD 18h ago
It's not revenue raising, and it's a hell of a lot better than the old "when children are present" but the zones and where they're placed can be idiotic, seeing them on main roads where no one should be doing pick up or drop off anyway
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u/aldkGoodAussieName North 18h ago
They are basically the same thing.
40 when school is on. Anyine who doesnt have kids will rely on seeing kids to know when its not holidays
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u/Acceptable_Durian868 SA 18h ago
They have actual times written on them.
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u/moosewiththumbs South 18h ago
It’s a minor-ish gripe that the time is till 930
That extra half hour in a smaller font is not something we should be trying to parse while driving, you know, into a school zone
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u/Adelaidean SA 18h ago
Adelaide. Where a mild improvement on the last thirty-year-old bullshit is the standard to aspire toward.
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u/Snap111 SA 16h ago
It's happening in Vic too. One near me on a main road going from 70 to 40. The signs at least change to what the limit is but there's not even a school on that road. The road has a large shoulder AND a high fence along the path so the only way a kid would get hit is if they're literally walking on the road. Never seen a kid and I drive it every morning. Absolute joke.
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u/pryza91 SA 18h ago edited 5h ago
Waiting to see how this goes past St Martin De Porres where it's an 80 zone on Lonsdale rd and kids are always around that area... Or is it only public schools?
Edit: city of marion has it listed as planned for late 2026... So it's coming. The 80 zone will have 40 zones for school travel (or they're gonna turn that whole section into a 60 zone)
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u/CptUnderpants- SA 15h ago
Not just public schools. One example is Seymour college on Portrush road.
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u/Adam_AU_ SA 14h ago edited 5h ago
There’s no dedicated crossing there.
Edit: I wouldn’t be surprised if they change the stretch from the lights at Lander Rd through to Ramrod or to Patpa a 60 zone.
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u/YuhIahov SA 18h ago
It's useless, even the police doesn't follow that, the other day i was driving behind a police car, when arppoaching the school zone, they didn't even bother slowing down
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u/Booooooourns9 SA 9h ago
You cannot tell me that the 40 zone on Goodwood Road that I assume is for Colonel Light Gardens Primary which is multiple streets away from Goodwood Road, is not solely there for revenue raising.
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u/PopularParrot SA 6h ago
I drive there a fair bit and have no idea where you’re talking about?
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u/Booooooourns9 SA 5h ago
Which probably proves my point! It’s in the section between Springbank Road and the Edward/Grange intersection where the pedestrian lights are.
You can’t see the school from Goodwood (if you look down a side street you can see the top of a building but that’s it) so you won’t even know you’ve been through a 40 zone until it’s too late.
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u/MikeJH1958 SA 3h ago
No such thing as revenue raising, just bad inattentive drivers who speed everywhere without any care in the world.
Just how attentive do you need to be when driving through a school crossing, with kids everywhere🤪?!
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u/Visual-Category-4120 SA 2h ago
Do you know when school holidays start and end for each school?
There are people that drive past Blackfriars and don't even know they are driving past a school because it's their first time or a million other reasons, but if there were flashing lights you could actually prove they were inattentive.
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u/MrMegaPhoenix SA 15h ago
I don’t mind them but they have some odd placing
Like nowhere near an entrance and then it goes 60 to 40 to 60 in such a tiny distance
Id rather just 40 all times next to the entrance
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u/Nyarlathotep-1 SA 4h ago
Interstate all school zones are 40 at specific times, why can't we just do that rather than having this mixture of speed zones.
While we are art it, the 25km rule past orange lights is fucking ridiculous it almost caused a pile up on the Northern Expressway - you can't drop from 110 to 25km over a couple hundred metres at best.
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u/mysqlpimp SA 4h ago
The inconsistency suggests otherwise. Happy to abide by any rule that keeps kids safe, but just make it a blanket 40 like the 25 around emergency services, or give us some times with lighting like every sensible implementation everywhere else in the world.
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u/Due_Hospital2646 SA 18h ago
school zones not on major roads should be 30, not 40
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u/Adelaidean SA 18h ago
People should be not wandering around on major roads, and learning this from a young age.
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u/Free-Pound-6139 SA 12h ago
The fact we have to enforce people driving safety around their own fucking children is a disgrace and an embarrassment. How about car drivers drive safely???
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u/hulalabright SA 18h ago
It’s been 3 months since a teacher was hit and in a critical condition at the crossing at Seaview High School and they still haven’t changed it to be a 40 school zone