The town of Speed in Victoria, which has a population of just 45 people, will be known as Speedkills for the month of March after locals decided to help promote safe driving.
Each year hundreds of people die in accidents on Australian roads and in 2010 deaths on rural roads increased by about 25 per cent, but successive advertising campaigns by the government urging motorists to slow down have been largely unsuccessful.
Speed locals hope that their unique contribution to road safety will make drivers hit the brakes.
Phil Down, a local wheat and sheep farmer who is changing his name to Phil Slow Down for the month, said the aim of the name change was to encourage people to keep to the speed limit on country roads.
"It's virtually on the road to somewhere else, so we've taken our quirky name and run with it to bring the attention to the campaign of trying to get people to slow down on country roads and especially through small towns," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The idea was the brainchild of the state's Transport Accident Commission (TAC). The commission approached Speed residents with a proposal that if 10,000 Facebook users supported renaming Speed to SpeedKills, the change would go ahead in return for a donation to a local charity.
More than 30,000 Facebook users have since given their support to the campaign.
Phil Reed, a spokesman for the TAC, said the name change could save lives.
"We're trying to get people to stay within the speed limits, obey road safety rules ... realise that when they don't, people die".
Speed, which lies 250 miles north of Melbourne, was originally named after a Victorian railway commissioner.
The residents of , a small town in the south-east of Australia, have made the decision to modify the name of the town for one month in an attempt to improve road safety in the country. The name of the town will be adjusted to SpeedKills across next month.

The idea was created by the . A campaign was launched on the social networking website Facebook, saying that if 10,000 'liked' the campaign page, the name of the town — which has a population of 45 — would be changed. 'Rename Speed' has now gone on to achieve over 33,000 likes.

Previously,  had used various advertising campaigns in an attempt to get motorists to reduce speed. However, these campaigns were in large part unsuccessful. In 2010, Australia experienced a 25% increase in deaths on rural roads . TAC spokesperson Phil Reed has stated that, with this new name change campaign, "we're trying to get people to stay within the speed limits, obey road safety rules" and cause motorists to "realise that when they don't, people die".

One inhabitant of Speed has also made the decision to change his name during March. Phil Down, who grows wheat and raises sheep, has decided to change his name to Phil Slow Down. Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Down explained: "It's virtually on the road to somewhere else, so we've taken our quirky name and run with it to bring the attention to the campaign of trying to get people to slow down on country roads and especially through small towns".