Chapel Street through Prahran and South Yarra, a notorious route for bike crashes, will have speed limits clamped at 30km/h for an 18-month trial.
The new limits will also be applied to other key streets in the Stonnington municipality, on semi-formal bike routes and in school precincts.
The move to impose slower vehicle speeds in areas of high pedestrian and cyclist density is sweeping advanced countries around the world due to the radical drop in collisions and injuries that results, but has been slow to gain traction in car-addicted Australian suburbs.
But the tide has now turned and momentum is growing as councils queue up to try out safer streets.
The 30km/h Chapel Street restriction applies between Toorak Road and Dandenong Road, and also to sections of Greville Street, Bendigo Street, Murray Street, Wrights Terrace, Spring Street, Chomley Street and Closeburn Ave, Cromwell Road and Surrey Road, and Chatsworth Road.
Stonnington has also approved the creation of two new local bike routes including traffic calming and a trial of 30km/h speed limits for at least 18 months on the following routes: along Osborne Avenue, between High Street and Milton Parade in Glen Iris, and along Ewart Street, Lysterville Avenue, Jordan Street, McArthur Street and Parslow Street in Malvern.
As well as the 30km/h move, the council has also instituted slower 40km/h limits in areas of Armadale, Malvern and Malvern East.
And it has approved construction of another eight intersection and street crossing upgrades.
The move to safer streets has been spurred by road safety funding being made available to councils for use on projects that reduce speeds, crashes and injuries.
The City of Stonnington has provisionally been allocated $2 million in state government funding to support local road safety improvements, with a further $200,000 available for 30km/h trials.
The safety initiatives were delayed in some locations as councillors claimed residents had not been informed, even though all residents were provided with information by mail.
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