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Road safety expert suggests reduced urban speed limit to keep people safe (www.abc.net.au)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/perth@aussie.zone
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[โ€“] 9 points 1 year ago* (3 children)

Ignores the massive increase in vehicle size, reduced forward visibility, and deadlier higher bonnet profile on SUVs etc

But we don't want to limit monster trucks or Mum's SUVs, so we'll just make everyone go slower.

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    • [โ€“] 9 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    I think "Not just bikes" on YT recently covered this. 30 is the pedestrian safe speed for cars in both being able to stop safely around pedestrian unpredictability and if there is an impact it's nice n slow.

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    • [โ€“] [S] 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I would really like to see the CBD become a blanket 30 zone. So many people drive like nut cases there.

    I also think every set of lights should have cameras on the terrace and Wellington.

    The most dangerous part of my 10km bike commute is the last 300m to my office.

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  • [โ€“] 4 points 1 year ago

    One way to do this in a more natural way would be to quietly make the city's environment more hostile to cars and driving. This could include things like physically less parking spots (they would have to be replaced by parking outside the city though for a place like Perth); thinner roads including the major thoroughfares; more speed arrester installations like roundabouts, speedhump, those diagonal curb things.

    One thing i wouldn't do is overtly privilege another mode of transport above the others. It seems to set up a zero sum competitive positioning in drivers minds. Ie, the bike get a lane, and I lose a lane, etc.

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    • [โ€“] 1 point 1 year ago

    They raised this in nsw a few years back. Shame it didn't take, the data are in it just makes sense. It's such a minor part of anyone's commute and it would have benefits in safety for humans, non humans, and noise level reductions.

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    [โ€“] -3 points 1 year ago (8 children)

    The more wrong a speed limit is, the more dangerous it becomes. If it's 30 where I can safely drive 50, I have to keep my eyes on the speedometer to not speed and get a fine, which makes the road less safe.

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  • [โ€“] 9 points 1 year ago*

    You should be aware of your speedometer even if you think you can safely drive at a speed...... Especially in urban areas, where I'd assume it's more likely in urban areas for your car will collide with people at no fault of your own, like a kid carelessly running onto the road. Lower speeds make crashes far less dangerous, I wouldn't be surprised at all if five 30kph crashes a month had a significantly lesser fatality rate than one 50kph crash a month.

    edit: very relevant, someone else mentioned this video. Amsterdam set their speed limit down to the same 30kph.

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  • [โ€“] 4 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    There is logic to this. Things can be done to make a road feel like it should be slower. Eg, if it's 2 wide lanes in a straight line, that road can feel like it should be 70 or 80. By making roads appear narrower, for example, can subconsciously signal that we should be going slower.

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  • [โ€“] 2 points 1 year ago

    I have driven a lot around the Netherlands. It's pretty great. The only places with bad speed limits there are the highways. All the rest is very well designed and often doesn't even get you to the limit.

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