Speed limits in Australia

It contains the word "END" and a number in a black circle beneath this, representing the ceasing speed-limit.

One exception is Victoria where they will deduct 2–4 km/h in from the speed reading such that reasonable doubt is credited to the driver.

[6] especially in light of the fact that earlier Australian Design Rules specified that vehicle speedometers may have up to 10% leeway in accuracy.

Despite introduction of model national road rules by the states in 1999, Western Australia and the Northern Territory retain different default speed limits.

In the external territories, and in some special cases (such as Lord Howe Island, NSW), the speed limits may differ significantly from those found across the rest of the nation.

New South Wales has a limit of 100 km/h for heavy (more than 4.5 tonne) vehicles which is not a feature of the Australian Road Rules.

The urban default, which prior to the 1930s was 30 mph (48 km/h), applied to any "built up area", usually defined by the presence of street lighting.

Over the next 30 years, each of the states and territories progressively increased the limit to 35 mph (56 km/h), with New South Wales being the last to change in May 1964.

[32] Speed-limit advocates note that the per-capita fatality rate in 2006 was the highest in the OECD and twice the Australian average.

"[41] From September 2015, a 336 km (209 mi) stretch of Stuart Highway between Barrow Creek and Alice Springs had speed limits removed for a 12-month trial.

[42][43][44] 130 km/h (81 mph) speed limits were restored on 20 November 2016 due to the electoral loss of the Country Liberal Party.

[45][46] Often the start of rural default 'limits' or prima facie allowances were signalled by use of the speed derestriction sign, catalogued R4-2 in AS1742.4.

This belief, coupled with repeated studies showing 85th percentile speeds in excess of 120 km/h (75 mph) on major routes, comparatively high road tolls, difficulty in prosecuting speeding offences, and the variance in meaning of the derestriction sign across states, led New South Wales to harmonise its rural default limit to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 1978.