There’s a trend towards lower speed limits in cities all over the world, but why is this happening? What is the research behind it? And what is the “correct” speed limit for cities, anyway?
Spoiler it is 30km/h. After that noise and injury risk/severity shoot up. It is the compromise speed.
In the next city where i live and the smaller almost cities around it, all side roads are 30km/h for a few years now. Some people seem to really hate it, and i kinda get why, when you drive there or live there and out of habit go 50 and get fined, it’s hella expensive. But i’m super happy with it. 30 is plenty
Doing >30mph on side roads sounds reckless to me! Glad we’ve got 20 here.
This would be restricted to city streets. If you want more speed, use the highways or bypass roads that (ideally) aren’t anywhere near residential or city areas.
And the additional speed actually slows things down on congested roads, because you need more traffic lights (among other reasons).
Also in many european cities you won’t get somewhere faster even if you try, so 30 is definitely a kind of sweet spot.
