Road safety programs

Brisbane City Council is committed to delivering road safety initiatives to make Brisbane’s city and suburban streets safer. This commitment aligns with Council’s Transport Plan for Brisbane – Strategic Directions to implement local safety improvements in residential neighbourhoods, school zones and high pedestrian activity areas.   

Learn about Council’s Local Area Traffic Management, Suburban Corridor Modernisation, Local Access Network Improvements, safe roads around schools, pedestrian countdown timers, traffic lights and speed limits.

Local Area Traffic Management 

Local Area Traffic Management (LATM), also known as traffic calming, involves installing devices such as speed platforms, roundabouts, traffic islands and kerb build-outs to:

• provide a safe environment for pedestrians and cyclists
• discourage non-local traffic, commonly known as 'rat running', in neighbourhood streets
• moderate vehicle speeds

LATM schemes are normally carried out over an entire area rather than just a single street to ensure that traffic issues are not transferred to other local streets. Usually an LATM area will consist of residential streets bordered by major roads or barriers such as a river or creek.

Download the: 

• Local Area Traffic Management fact sheet (PDF - 939Kb) 
• Local Area Traffic Management fact sheet (Word - 2.43Mb).

Local Area Traffic Management process

Local knowledge is vital to Council's assessment of traffic issues. The information local residents provide helps Council to determine priority areas, and if there is support for LATM. 

Council will investigate all requests for LATM, however it is helpful to understand the level of support from the local community. This can be displayed in the form of a letter signed by local residents or a petition.  

Find out more information about how to lodge a formal petition. 

Suburban Corridor Modernisation

Suburban Corridor Modernisation involves installing devices such as signage, line-markings, traffic islands, pedestrian refuge islands and bike lanes to increase safety for active road users across Brisbane’s suburban road corridors and the surrounding catchments to these roads.

Local Access Network Improvements

Local Access Network Improvements involves installing devices such as kerb build-outs, pedestrian refuge islands and intersection line-markings to increase safety across Brisbane’s local road network and minor intersections.

Safe Roads Around Schools

Council provides transport-related infrastructure programs to improve safety on the roads around our schools, such as Safe School Travel Infrastructure and Traffic Management Plan Improvements. Safe School Travel Infrastructure is funded on a 50/50 basis with the State Government (Department of Transport and Main Roads).

Pedestrian countdown timers

Pedestrian countdown timers count down the time during the flashing red ‘don’t walk’ signal to advise pedestrians of the remaining time they have to safely finish crossing the road. The two-digit display only lights during the flashing clearance period. Council advises pedestrians to follow safe practices when walking across the road, which includes only leaving the kerb when the green walking person signal is displayed.

Following a successful trial of the countdown timers that resulted in a 60% reduction in pedestrian-related incidents, Council has introduced over 400 timers to many crossings across the city and suburbs.

Traffic lights

Traffic lights control the flow of traffic and pedestrians to improve safety and access on Brisbane's roads. For information on how traffic lights operate and answers to other common questions, you can download the:

• Traffic Lights fact sheet (PDF - 758Kb)
• Traffic Lights fact sheet (Word - 117Kb).

To report a traffic light problem, phone Council on 07 3403 8888.

Co-ordination of traffic lights 

Council has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Queensland Government to cooperatively manage traffic signal coordination at 40 major intersections across Brisbane. 

The intersections are coordinated to ensure that the number of stops and delays to motorists are minimised regardless of which agency owns the road and traffic signals.

Of these 40 priority intersections, control for 12 intersections are managed by Council and 28 are managed by the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR). The rollout for this agreement was finalised in January 2013.

Road types

All roads in Brisbane are classified to help provide a convenient, efficient, accessible and safe road network for all road users. This classification is called the Brisbane road hierarchy and it guides the way roads are constructed, used and managed.

The road hierarchy considers the function of the road and the land uses it connects. The classification does not always depend on the traffic carrying capacity or speed limit of the road.

To view the road hierarchy map, visit the Brisbane City Plan 2014 mapping: Road hierarchy overlay.

Download the:

• Road hierarchy fact sheet (PDF - 368Kb)
• Road hierarchy fact sheet (Word - 3.54Mb). 

Speed limits

Speed limits are the maximum posted speed that vehicles can travel. In Brisbane and throughout the rest of Queensland, the maximum speed on roads in built up areas is 50 km/h, unless signed otherwise.

Travelling above or even too far below speed limits can cause traffic incidents. When people follow speed limits, residents and visitors can enjoy a safe, efficient and reliable road network.

If you are concerned about speeding or other anti-social driver behaviour in your local area, please call the Queensland Police Service Hoon Hotline on 13HOON (13 4666) or visit the Queensland Police Service website and follow the ‘report’ prompt to lodge your concern.

Download the:

• Speed limits fact sheet (Word - 102Kb).

Speed limit reviews

A speed limit review (SLR) is where Council undertakes an evaluation of a length of road to determine whether a change to the speed limit may be required.

Some reasons to change the speed limit could be following property redevelopment that results in a significant increase in activity on and beside the road or changes to traffic management arrangements and road characteristics, such as lane changes and road widening. Council may also consider carrying out an SLR for a local street where there is a poor safety record.

Council receives regular requests to review speed limits on roads and has developed a fact sheet to provide an overview of how speed limits are determined and when they may be reviewed.

Download the:

• Speed limit review fact sheet (Word - 998kb)

CBD speed limit

The CBD speed limit is 40 kilometres per hour. This excludes Turbot Street and part of Ann Street which are 60 kilometres per hour ensuring traffic flows more efficiently.

CBD 40 kilometre per hour zone map

View CBD 40 Kilometres per hour zone in a larger map.