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Japan to lower residential road speed limit from 60 to 30 kph (www.japantimes.co.jp)
submitted 6 days ago by to c/fuckcars@lemmy.world
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The measure is aimed at reducing accidents in urban areas with heavy pedestrian traffic and narrow streets, marking a major shift in the country’s traffic rules as these roads account for around 70% of all ordinary roads nationwide.

[...] above [30 kph] the risk of pedestrians suffering fatal injuries in accidents is said to spike.

[...]

The aim of the speed limit change “is to prevent accidents by stopping dangerous driving, such as failing to slow down even on busy streets”

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[–] 8 points 5 days ago* (4 children)

My carbrain seeing the title: Wtf, 30 for normal residential areas is a bit TOO low, we have 50 in most of Europe and that's just fine

My carbrain after seeing the photo: Nah this would be 20 in my country and in the vicinity of pedestrians, at pedestrian speed. AKA you'd definitely see one of these signs.

It's wild they allowed 60 on streets like this in the first place. That must feel like street racing going down this narrow alley. I was sort of expecting a regular street with a sidewalk upon seeing the title and the fact that it used to be 60.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 days ago (1 child)

    are you sure you're not thinking of the default urban speed limit? That's 50kmph here in sweden too, but actual residential streets almost universally have a signed 40 or 30kmph limit.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 days ago*

    Most residential areas in Estonia are the default urban speed limit, sometimes they're limited to 30. 40 is rare but exists too. Usually someone has to complain for speed limits to get put up.

    The living street sign is in places where kids play on the street often, etc. Tbh I think more residential areas should have that, but it does come with the caveat that you need to stop the car and either exit or have a passenger enter or exit within the residential area. Passing through is not allowed, which means you can't put it on bottleneck streets unless the entire area on one side of the street is covered too

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  • [–] 2 points 4 days ago*

    It's going to 30km/h (20mph) in many more countries now as a result of the Stockholm Declaration on Road Safety in 2020 (later endorsed by the UN) which puts a lot of emphasis on specifically 20lm/h speed limits. In the UK there is a big push for 20mph; in Wales most roads have been made 20mph.

    There are still 3,558 pedestrian deaths per year in the EU, while there are 7,080 per year in the US.

    The Stockholm Declaration aims for 50% fewer road deaths in 2030 compared to 2020.

    A pedestrian hit at 30 km/h has about a 90% chance of surviving, but at 50 km/h, survival drops to about 20%. So while I get the appeal of driving fast, I think it's a very reasonable measure. 1000s of deaths per year to shave minutes off arrival times is not acceptable.

    Source: am cycling campaigner in the UK

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  • [–] 2 points 5 days ago

    In the Netherlands cities are going to 30kmh anywhere cars come in contact with other traffic participants.

    In the Netherlands those rural looking roads are up to 80kmh, up to 100 in Germany, 90 in Belgium.

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