Maximum 30 km/hour: Are we walking the talk on road safety?

NOT just motorized vehicle riders but every person has a human right for safe commuting. But over 50 million people get injured, and 1.35 million die every year due to road traffic crashes worldwide. More alarming is the fact that 90 percent of these injuries and deaths occur in developing countries. Road traffic crashes are also the leading cause of death around the world for children and young people between 15 and 29 years of age. Overspeeding is identified as a major cause of almost 70 percent of these road traffic crashes in countries such as India.

There is hope: stronger evidence is piling on to reduce maximum road travel speed to 30 kilometers per hour (km/h). Cities that have implemented this maximum road travel speed of 30 km/h have shown lifesaving decline in road traffic crashes too. That is why the commitment to reduce the maximum travel speed limit to 30 km/h is also a part of a declaration endorsed by governments last year.

Stockholm Declaration

Last year, from February 19 to 20, the Stockholm Declaration was adopted at the Third Global Ministerial Conference

on Road Safety by ministers and heads of government delegations.

One of the important commitments enshrined in the Stockholm Declaration is to “focus on speed management, including the strengthening of law enforcement to prevent speeding and mandate a maximum road travel speed of 30 km/h in areas where vulnerable road users and vehicles mix in a frequent and planned manner, except where strong evidence exists that higher speeds are safe, noting that efforts to reduce speed in general will have a beneficial impact on air quality and climate change as well as being vital to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries.”

Love 30 and 20’s Plenty for Us

The call to reduce the maximum speed limit to save lives is not new. CNS reached out to Rod King who had started to campaign for lower speed limits in Warrington, UK in 2004. In June 2013, in recognition of his contribution to road safety, he was conferred the “Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire” (or MBE, the third