Road safety expert suggests reduced urban speed limit to keep people safe
WA's Centre for Road Safety research says the measure is the only foolproof way to protect all road users.
Ignores the massive increase in vehicle size, reduced forward visibility, and deadlier higher bonnet profile on SUVs etc
But we don't want to limit monster trucks or Mum's SUVs, so we'll just make everyone go slower.
Still, slower speeds in local neighborhoods makes a lot of sense. In Victoria it's 50km/h which is way too high even for normal cars.
Thats a really good point.
Maybe something is better than nothing sometimes? π
I think "Not just bikes" on YT recently covered this. 30 is the pedestrian safe speed for cars in both being able to stop safely around pedestrian unpredictability and if there is an impact it's nice n slow.
They raised this in nsw a few years back. Shame it didn't take, the data are in it just makes sense. It's such a minor part of anyone's commute and it would have benefits in safety for humans, non humans, and noise level reductions.
The more wrong a speed limit is, the more dangerous it becomes. If it's 30 where I can safely drive 50, I have to keep my eyes on the speedometer to not speed and get a fine, which makes the road less safe.
You should be aware of your speedometer even if you think you can safely drive at a speed...... Especially in urban areas, where I'd assume it's more likely in urban areas for your car will collide with people at no fault of your own, like a kid carelessly running onto the road. Lower speeds make crashes far less dangerous, I wouldn't be surprised at all if five 30kph crashes a month had a significantly lesser fatality rate than one 50kph crash a month.
edit: very relevant, someone else mentioned this video. Amsterdam set their speed limit down to the same 30kph.
There is logic to this. Things can be done to make a road feel like it should be slower. Eg, if it's 2 wide lanes in a straight line, that road can feel like it should be 70 or 80. By making roads appear narrower, for example, can subconsciously signal that we should be going slower.
I have driven a lot around the Netherlands. It's pretty great. The only places with bad speed limits there are the highways. All the rest is very well designed and often doesn't even get you to the limit.
Homie just don't push the gas more and the car doesn't go faster.
Even the car I had 20 years ago had cruise control that could be set at 30.
Mine don't.
Do you, perhaps, have a pro-speed bias?
No. Not at all. I don't feel the need to speed. I just drive at a safe pace, which is often faster than the artificial limit they have put somewhere. (Which they often do just to make money from fines)
I would really like to see the CBD become a blanket 30 zone. So many people drive like nut cases there.
I also think every set of lights should have cameras on the terrace and Wellington.
The most dangerous part of my 10km bike commute is the last 300m to my office.
One way to do this in a more natural way would be to quietly make the city's environment more hostile to cars and driving. This could include things like physically less parking spots (they would have to be replaced by parking outside the city though for a place like Perth); thinner roads including the major thoroughfares; more speed arrester installations like roundabouts, speedhump, those diagonal curb things.
One thing i wouldn't do is overtly privilege another mode of transport above the others. It seems to set up a zero sum competitive positioning in drivers minds. Ie, the bike get a lane, and I lose a lane, etc.