30 km/h zone? That would make drivers sleepy, the authority claims

Limiting transit traffic in Prague’s Petrská district is a good idea. However, the measure lacks a number of well-proven solutions commonly used in Western Europe to be truly optimal. That is why, last year, in our comments on the proposed regulation, we submitted suggestions for introducing a 30 km/h zone, which would improve safety, including at pedestrian crossings and along longer stretches, as well as for contraflow cycling streets.

Unfortunately, the Prague 1 Transport Department rejected all of our proposals in its response. However, the justification by Pavel Kotlár, head of the transport and communications department, is such a remarkable mix of legislative citations and personal opinions without any factual basis that we do not want to deprive you of it. From what we consider a writing exercise that rather serves to mask reluctance to implement safer streets for pedestrians and cyclists, we are selecting a few highlights.

They perfectly illustrate why all improvements in the city centre take so long—or, in the worse case, do not happen at all. If decisions about urban development are made by people whose thinking got stuck somewhere at the end of the last century, it is no surprise that efforts to calm Smetana Embankment have been ongoing for more than 20 years.

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