Streets for life: Lower speed limits bring many benefits to cities

Drive slow, save lives, walk, bike, save the planet. These are just some of the ideas behind the UN’s Streets for Life campaign. It brings completely new concepts of urban transport. It sets a limit of 30 km/h as the standard speed for cities, towns, and villages around the world.

Lowering speed limits can save lives, reduce emissions, and improve the quality of life in cities. Estimates say that by 2030, nearly five billion of the world’s 8.5 billion people will live in urban areas, with most urban growth occurring in developing regions. Europe remains the most urbanized continent in the world, with more than 80% of the population living in cities and towns, where the number of cars is constantly increasing.

As urbanization and motorization increase, a speed limit of 30 km/h should be the standard in all places where cars, cyclists, and pedestrians meet, the UN recommends. Traffic experts have long known that speed kills. Speed ​​is a key factor in 30% of fatal crashes. Lower speeds protect everyone, especially vulnerable people such as children, cyclists, pedestrians, seniors, and people with disabilities. People have a 90% chance of surviving a collision with a car or truck traveling at 30 km/h, but less than a 50% chance at 50 km/h or more.

Healthier cities, healthier planet

Slower speeds are also necessary to improve health – of people and the planet. Low-speed streets that make walking and cycling safer can both promote physical activity and reduce the climate impact of urban transport.

Even a small reduction in speed can significantly increase fuel efficiency. The European Environment Agency has found that reducing motorway speed limits from 120 to 110 km/h means fuel savings of 12-18%. Moreover, lower speed limits tend to reduce the popularity of car travel and increase the attractiveness of other modes of transport.

Many cities in Europe are already switching to lower speeds, bringing significant benefits in terms of road safety and quality of life. Brussels, Paris and Dublin have introduced 30 km/h limits to improve air quality, reduce noise pollution and reduce traffic accidents. The Spanish government is also introducing new traffic regulations, reducing speed limits and increasing fines. Luxembourg has extended its 30 km/h limit zones to all built-up areas, as have Oslo and Helsinki, where not a single pedestrian or cyclist has died in a road accident since 2020.

Lower speeds are key to creating livable streets, which are at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and can facilitate many of its goals. More cities are already adopting Vision Zero strategies and the Safe Systems approach, which shifts the responsibility for road safety from individual users to the planners, engineers, designers, and politicians responsible for the transport system.

Impacts of the pandemic

Health and safety measures prompted by the pandemic have led to new ideas for infrastructure and the use of public space. With just two hospitals and a largely elderly population, the Isle of Man has cited covid-19 as the reason for reducing the island-wide speed limit to 40mph. According to the island’s administration, the change was necessary to minimize the risk of traffic accident victims requiring intensive care.

More generally, the covid-19 pandemic has forced governments around the world to rethink the relationship between movement, urban space, and health. In an effort to create a safer and more sustainable future, the Streets for Life approach seeks to build on some of the key innovations of the Covid-19 era that have reshaped transportation and urban development: slower traffic speeds, open space for pedestrians, cyclists, and scooter riders, children playing on sidewalks …

As the pandemic has pushed cities to transform, an opportunity has arisen to reshape urban transport with huge potential for road safety, public health, climate action, and the environment. And lower speed limits are its prerequisite. This year’s motto of the neighborhood festivities, Zažít město jinak, is Slow Down, and thus refers (not only) to theme 30. On Saturday, September 21, come and experience what the street could look like if it primarily served people, not cars. We cordially invite you.

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