AS the 6th UN Global Road Safety Week rolls off, the February 2020 Stockholm Declaration on Road Safety becomes the backdrop of how road safety intervention–by implementing speed management and setting a maximum road speed of 30kph–is crucial to the survival of vulnerable road users in places where they mix with larger, motorized vehicles.
The Stockholm Declaration on Road Safety reflects the resolve of member states to “strengthen law enforcement to prevent speeding and mandate a maximum road travel speed of 30 km/h as appropriate in areas where vulnerable road users and vehicles mix in a frequent and planned manners.”
But in the light of the development of faster cars and motorcycles, how can the declaration be enforced or even apply, particularly in developed nations? The study behind the Stockholm declaration was done in cities like Graz, Austria; London, UK; New York, USA; and Toronto, Canada, where which indicated that 30 km/h speed limits and zones yielded reductions — often significant — in road traffic crashes, injuries and deaths.
“I call on authorities to reduce urban speed limits to 30 km/h (20 mph) where pedestrians and cyclists mix with other traffic, as a step towards giving streets back to people and ensuring those streets are protective of health and the environment. Low-speed streets are streets for life,” Dr. Etienne Krug, Director of the Department of Social Determinants of Health, WHO commented.
The Stockholm Declaration also underscores that efforts to reduce speed have a beneficial impact on air quality and climate change as well as being vital to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries. Not only does it save lives, but low-speed driving also promotes walking, cycling, and a move towards zero-carbon mobility.
The 30-kph speed limits and zones are being now replicated in many cities worldwide.
Starting May 21, Brussels, Paris and cities across Spain, will implement the 30 km/h speed limits on dual carriageways and 20 km/h on single carriageways in all the country’s municipalities. Several 30 km/h zones are now being set-up worldwide, from Ho Chi Minh City in Viet Nam to Accra in Ghana all the way to Bogota in Columbia.
Commenting on the initiative, Michael Lance M. Domagas, a road safety advocate, software engineer, and one of the primary movers for the Philippines’ participation in NASA programs said that the “failure to build wider streets accommodating cyclists and pedestrians pose more harm to those who prefer for a more ecological and healthy way to move. Wider roads would promote safety for both motorists and cyclists, knowing there are spaces for both modes of transportation.” These “wishlist items” are in line with the Stockholm Declaration, the Global Plan for the new Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 which reflects the intrinsic value of managing speed.
As noted in the WHO document “Managing speed, five actions to make #StreetsforLife” implementable are to:
- build or modify roads to include features that calm traffic,
- establish speed limits appropriate to the function of each road,
- enforce these speed limits,
- install in-vehicle technologies that can detect and monitor or even intervene with speed limits and,
- raise awareness about the dangers of speeding.
“Low-speed streets are the heart of every community,” Krug concludes. — with Lourdes C. Escolano
