NED Ronquillo lost his son in a road crash six years ago. His son, thirteen at that time was walking along the Dolores-San Pablo road, a narrow road, inside an urbanized part of the municipality in Laguna when a speeding tricycle lost control and crossed his path. The tricycle drive claimed he was only traveling at only 50 kph when he tried to avoid a pothole, lost control, and swerved the vehicle into the path of Ronquillo’s son.
The gruesome story repeats itself in various forms and with various personalities all over the country and the world. Driving over the speed limit in urban or urbanized areas is a leading cause of injuries and fatalities.
Barangay Dolores does not have the traffic density of Gagalanging in Tondo, Manila yet in almost the same fate had seriously injured Celino C. or Mang Celing. A laborer, whose work only resumed a month before the accident, Mang Celing was riding his bicycle to work last November when a sedan, piloted by a newbie driver, miscalculated his speed and braked late upon seeing him. According to the Gagalangin Traffic Management unit, the vehicle was traveling at about 60 kilometers per hour–along the stretch of Hermosa Street where the traffic speed limit is only 30 kilometers per hour.
At the start of today’s 6th UN Global Road Safety Week, the World Health Organization will highlight the benefits of low-speed streets in urban areas. By doing so, it will be effectively be calling for more stringent implementation road speed limits. It will also be asking policymakers to create more feasible, relevant policies to regulate speeds of vehicles down to 30 km/h (20 mph) on streets where pedestrians, cyclists and others who are most at risk mix with motorized traffic.
Currently, in the Philippines, road speeds are mixed even on wider urban roads like Commonwealth Ave., EDSA or the roads inside Bonifacio Global City.
A majority of Philippine roads, except for a couple of cities and municipalities, such as Palawan, Iloilo, and Bacolod, most have unclear implementation on speed limits or apprehension of those who drive beyond the speed limit. The common speed limit in urban or urbanized locations is 40 kilometers per hour, according to a check of road speeds using Google Maps.
EDSA, in particular is a mishmash of traffic variables–bus lanes and concrete bus separators, bike lanes that cross into right turns, big trucks and motorcycles running up to 60 kph, and more because there are no speed traps. Road crashes happen daily, between various kinds of vehicles, resulting in many forms of injuries and sometimes even deaths. Current statistics show the most vulnerable road users along EDSA are cyclists. The bike lane is also shared with e-scooters and sometimes electric tricycles.
According to the WHO, more than 1.3 million people die annually in road traffic crashes—that’s one person every 24 seconds. Of that number, about 700 children perish and another 2,300 are injured globally every day, making them the most vulnerable sector.
Excessive speed is at the core of the problem, with 1 in 3 deaths on the roads in high-income countries attributed to speed. It is estimated that 40-50 percent of people drive above the speed limit, with every 1 km/h increase in speed resulting in a 4-5 percent increase in fatal crashes. The risk of death and injury reduces considerably when speeds are lowered.
Thus, a 10 kilometer per hour difference in speed will translate to a 50 percent additional chance of survival. Even in NCAP crash dummy tests, the “occupants” have the greatest chance of survival when speeds are between 15 to 30 kph only.
The WHO in a 2018 report on road safety says echoes the NCAP observation. The chance of surviving a collision with a motor vehicle traveling at 50″‰km/h is less than 20 percent. But survival increases to 50 percent at 40—45″‰km/h and 90 percent at 30″‰km/h.
“So many of us around the world are taking to the streets and demanding change. We want low speeds, we want liveable streets, and communities where we can walk safely, where our children can get to school unharmed. We call for 30 km/h speed limits. Above 30 is a death sentence,” Zoleka Mandela, Global Ambassador for the Child Health Initiative. Mandela, grand daughter of Nelson Mandela, lost her 13-year-old daughter, Zenani, in a road traffic crash in South Africa in 2010.
With people mostly working from home the result is fewer road traffic crashes. Yet, even if almost all forms of mobility have drastically decreased due to COVID-19 lockdowns; the fatality numbers globally have not decreased in the same proportion. This is blamed on people driving at higher speeds with less traffic and emptier roads.
“We need a new vision for creating safe, healthy, green, and liveable cities. Low-speed streets are an important part of that vision. As we recover and rebuild from COVID-19, let’s make safer roads for a safer world.”
Tedros and Mandela have joined the heads of many UN and international agencies, civil society organizations, foundations, and private companies in signing an Open Letter calling for 30 km/h speed limits in cities worldwide and highlighting the essential and urgent need to do so to achieve the target of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 and the Global Goals generally.
The 6th UN Global Road Safety Week started yesterday, May 17, and will continue until May 23, 2021, with hundreds of activities planned and hosted by government ministries, UN agencies, civil society organizations, and private companies.
Signatories to the Streets for Life Open Letter calling for a focus on liveable streets and a maximum road travel speed of 30 km/h where vulnerable road users and vehicles mix. They demand that this approach is at the forefront of the new Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 to achieve the Global Goals.
