It’s up to motorists to make speed limits effective
If speed limit alone is not enough, what are the other measures required to improve road safety?
“The best measure to curb the vehicular speed is to design the roads to operate at lower speeds,” said Nadeem Shakir, who is among the consultants working on Dubai’s road designs.
“Design initiatives are better than regulatory measures. Speed calming measures such as speed tables, speed cushions, speed humps, rumble strips, interactive signs, reduced lane width, pedestrian crossing signals etc can be considered at the design stage to discourage speeding of vehicles.”
Echoing Shakir’s views, Phil Clarke, principal consultant (road safety and incident management) at Abu Dhabi-based Traffic Research Laboratory, also suggested road design as a key measure to curb speeding.
“Road engineering can influence the speed that drivers choose to drive, such as trafficcalming measures, using either horizontal or vertical deflections and signs. Road markings can also be used to reduce lane/road width to encourage lower speeds,” said Clarke.
However, both emphasised that education or creating greater awareness on the dangers of speeding is vital.
“Educating drivers about the dangers of driving at speeds which either exceed the limit or the safe speed for the existing circumstances is critical,” said Clarke, adding that penalties should also reflect the gravity of the offence and act as a deterrent.
Shakir observed that the current penalty in the UAE for speeding is adequate and consistent with the most of the international practices, however, he pointed out that there is significant room for public awareness in this respect. “Even if the penalty is increased by 10 times, it would not result in the improved road safety unless the public is fully aware of the implications of speeding,” he added.
Role of motorists
Speed limits, speed-calming measures or any tool that aims at improving road safety is effective only when motorists play their part.
Germany: Data released recently by the World Health Organisation (WHO) suggests that while those countries with urban road speeds of around 50 km/h or less indicate higher road safety levels, ironically, a country like Germany also has one of the lowest road fatality rates at 4.7 per 100,000 population, despite having no speed restriction on its highways. Eastern Mediterranean region and GCC:
On the contrary, according to the WHO’s 2015 international road accident report, the Eastern Mediterranean region, which also includes Middle Eastern and GCC countries, has the second highest road fatality rate at 19.9 persons per 100,000 population, despite having speed limits on highways and a net of speed-calming devices on the urban and rural roads.