Falmouth, Tasmania

There are no footpaths in Falmouth. While there are wide and well-maintained grass verges on many streets, most residents and visitors walk on the formed roads. Traditionally, Falmouth has been a place where children are free to roam relatively unsupervised between shacks and homes of relatives and friends. Until recently this caused few issues as there was little vehicular traffic and most drivers were familiar with the habits of pedestrians and the need to watch out for children.

  • With the increase in short-term holiday rentals such AirBnB in recent years, the amount of car traffic in Falmouth has increased. More importantly there are now many more first-time visitors who are not expecting to come across pedestrians on the roads.

  • Pedestrians and cyclists are at high risk of serious injury or death if hit at speeds above 30km/h . Research also indicates that a 10 km/h reduction in travelling speeds can lead to a 25 percent reduction in deaths and serious injuries.

  • The National Road Safety Action Plan recommends a 40 km/h (or lower) speed limit in high pedestrian and cyclist use zones.

  • While 50 km/hr is the general urban default speed limit across Tasmania, a speed limit of 40 km/hr is consistent with high pedestrian activity areas and is documented the Tasmanian Speed Zoning Guidelines as being able to be applied “in beachfront areas with low traffic volumes and no formal footpath facilities”.

We are asking residents and frequent visitors for support to reduce the speed limit in all of Falmouth from 50km/hr to 40km/hr

Speed limit changes are approved by the Commissioner for Transport as the legal authority for setting speed limits on all roads in Tasmania. The Commissioner will review a speed limit if they receive a speed limit change application from the relevant road manager, which in our case is the Break O’Day Council.

Please click here to download a copy of our detailed proposal.


To demonstrate community support for reducing the speed limit, we've started a petition. You can sign the petition electronically at www.petitions.net/reduce-falmouth-speed-limit on www.petitions.net or if you prefer to sign a paper copy please get in touch with David Godfrey-Smith, Dave Cannon or Murray Schier.