The City of Fremantle has joined with local residents to successfully lobby for a reduction in the speed limit at the popular Leighton Beach precinct.
From this week the speed limit along Leighton Beach Boulevard has been reduced from 50 to 40 kilometres per hour.
Chair of the Council of Owners of The Leighton apartment complex Mal Harford said at peak periods motorists were trying to avoid traffic delays by taking a short cut and speeding down Leighton Beach Boulevard.
Mr Harford said as the precinct had developed and attracted more people the speeding had become a serious safety concern.
"You get a lot of people who come down Leighton Beach Boulevard instead of going around Port Beach Road, but it's not so much a volume of traffic issue as a speed of traffic issue that was a real problem," Mr Harford said.
"When I moved in six years ago there was just the two northern blocks but there's now three additional blocks. Compass has just been completed and there's 104 apartments there.
"The surf club has a membership of about 1500 people and it's an enormously popular beach which gets a lot of use so there are a lot of people trying to cross the road to get to the beach.
"For all intents and purposes it's a car park, but it's actually a road that has significant parking on either side. Most people drive according to the fact that it's a car park, but regretfully for a small minority of people it's a competition to see how fast they can go down it.
"We're really appreciative of the support we've received from the City and our two North Fremantle councillors because 50 kilometres per hour was basically too fast."
The City's Infrastructure and Engineering Manager David Janssens said the City takes pedestrian, cycle and vehicular safety very seriously and regularly monitors traffic speeds and volumes on the road network.
"Main Roads WA is the governing body in Western Australia that approves speed limits and speed reduction applications need to comply with their guidelines," Mr Janssens said.
"The traffic calming devices and an increase in activity to this important Fremantle destination have contributed to a reduction in speed and have demonstrated to Main Roads that Leighton Beach Boulevard should receive this formalised speed reduction.
"This reduction to the speed limit represents a positive result creating a safer road environment on the local roads in Fremantle."
