The Cairns CBD was one of the most dangerous places to walk or ride a bike in Queensland, until a cheap upgrade slashed the crash rate.
The speed limit was dropped from 50km/h to 40km/h on several inner-city streets in 2019.
Within two years, cyclist and pedestrian casualties had dropped by 36 per cent.
The Cairns example was among several in a report to be released by Roads Australia on Wednesday, which will call for urgent action to reverse the nation’s road toll.
Last year was the deadliest on Queensland roads in 16 years, with 308 people losing their lives.
Before the changes in Cairns’ CBD, Aplin and Abbott streets had the highest number of serious injuries or deaths of all 50km/h streets in Queensland.
From 2013 to 2017, there were 171 casualties in Cairns’ CBD, including one fatality. The area had more crashes than Fortitude Valley and Surfers Paradise – areas with more cars driving through and more visitors.
Most casualties occurred during fine weather and daylight hours, very few involved drunk pedestrians (3 per cent), and most drivers held Queensland licences.
Local Brynn Mathews said changes to some streets were “very successful”.
“Where it finishes, you’re back to the bad old days of two lanes each way, no room for cyclists, and you get jammed up against parked cars,” said Mathews, from the Cairns Bicycle User Group.
Road fatalities across the country have increased over the past five years, putting at risk the federal government’s target of halving the toll by 2030.
About one in four fatalities occurred on local streets, and last year the number of deaths on roads with a 50km/h speed limit surged by almost 20 per cent.
Nationwide, pedestrian road deaths rose by 13 per cent and cyclist deaths by 32 per cent, compared with 2024.
Roads Australia CEO Ehssan Veiszadeh said there was an urgent need to rethink how urban streets were designed and managed.
“These deaths are not just statistics – they are parents, friends and children who never made it home after an ordinary trip to the shops, school or work,” he said.
“At 50km/h, a pedestrian struck by a vehicle has around a 90 per cent chance of death.
“At 40km/h, the risk drops to approximately 40 per cent, and at 30km/h, to just 10 per cent.”