The third global ministerial conference on road safety “Achieving the Global Goals for 2030” took place in February this year. It adopted the Stockholm Declaration, which focuses on speed management, including strengthening law enforcement to prevent speeding and making mandatory 30 km / h a maximum speed limit at places where the roads of vulnerable road users and drivers frequently and planned intersect, unless: there is strong evidence that higher speeds are safe.
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It was also noted that efforts to reduce speeds in general will have a positive impact on air quality and climate change, as well as playing a key role in reducing the number of fatalities and injuries in road accidents. Annija Novikova, Deputy Director of the Department of the Ministry of Transport, pointed this out at the CSDP think tank. Other traffic and safety experts differed.
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PHOTO: Screenshot of the show Zebra
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CSDD Representative Ziedonis Lazda pointed out that signs alone would not be enough in any case. For the speed limit to be effective, the streets would have to be narrowed, speed bumps, such as so-called sleeping cops, would have to be installed, and in some places even the pavement had to be changed. Chief of the Main Police Department of the State Police Normunds Krapsis pointed out, meanwhile, that it was largely a question of the environment in which we live, because, for example, a large proportion of pedestrian crossings still do not comply with any regulations. Therefore, we need to talk not only about speed reduction in built-up areas, but also about general road safety.
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Other views were expressed during the conversation, but Zebra decided to test in practice what it would be like if it were. Namely, how would it be to drive in the city for 30 kilometers per hour and chose the evening for his experiment after dark, when there is less traffic and the set route was Riga Motor Museum – Daile Theater along Brīvības Street.
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The main conclusion of this experiment is that when driving at the currently allowed speed, these 8 kilometers can be covered in about 15 minutes. Driving at 30 kilometers per hour – 5 minutes longer, and driving is so monotonous and boring that the driver is not interested in anything more than keeping the speedometer arrow at the mark 30.
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