NEW speed limits at Hastings aim to make the streets safer.
Parts of Marine Parade are now down to 50kph and other areas, including side streets, are down to 40kph.
Acting Senior Sergeant John Wardle, of Hastings police, said the reduced speed zones were designed to protect the community from road trauma and, in particular, vulnerable members of the community who are overrepresented in trauma statistics.
Those regarded as especially vulnerable are bike riders, the elderly, children and teenagers around parks, preschools, council buildings, lawn bowling clubs and schools.
Also, with no international or interstate travel police say they have noticed an increase in people visiting the area for recreational activities, often towing boats for boating and fishing on Western Port.
Anecdotally, police say that after so many lockdowns people are starting to become “deskilled in driving vehicles”.
First published in the Western Port News – 11 August 2021
