ACT suburban speed limits should drop to 40 kilometres per hour, researchers say

Road safety researchers are pushing for the speed limit to drop to 40 kilometres per hour at all times on ACT suburban roads.

Currently, the speed limit on roads through Canberra's suburbs is 50 kilometres per hour.

A research paper calling for a nationwide reduction is being presented at the Australasian Road Safety Conference in Canberra on Wednesday afternoon.

The co-author of the paper, Marina Alexander from the Queensland University of Technology, said the lower speed limit would save lives.

"A 10-kilometre reduction won't do much as far as reducing our travel times but it will dramatically increase our safety on the streets," she said.

Ms Alexander said a pedestrian hit by a car travelling at 50 kilometres per hour had a 50 to 80 per cent chance of dying.

"While if you were to reduce that by 10 kilometres to 40 kilometres per hour your chances of dying reduce to between 20 and 30 per cent, so it's a big reduction," she said.

"You still have a chance of death on the road, but we're trying to reduce that risk."

Ms Alexander said the current 50-kilometre zone was a "really risky speed when you have shared traffic".

"Most fatalities have been recorded as occurring in between 50 and 60 kilometres per hour," she said.

New website 'to nominate a location' for mobile cameras

Road Safety Minister Shane Rattenbury has announced a new website where people can suggest locations for local road safety cameras.

The new road safety cameras website also gives statistics and other information on the camera program.

Mr Rattenbury said the ACT Government receives many requests from people wanting a speed camera on their street.

"You'd be surprised," he said.

"I get a large number of people requesting that we send either the police or road safety cameras out.

"This is all about harvesting local knowledge. People living in local areas really know what's going on."