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”
It would be painful to drive at that speed. Slowest you’ll ever see in the US on public roads is generally 25mph/40kph even in residential or downtown areas. Even then most people are driving 30mph+, 48kph+
the US has some 15mph roads, and plentiful 20 mph residential roads
I have seen them, but it’s extremely rare in my area. Maybe campgrounds and parking lots, but that’s it.
in my city all unlabeled roads are 20mph
Interesting, I’ve traveled a decent portion of the US, but yet to see that.
40km/h has been the minimum speed limit on public roads in Aus for quite a while, and it’s still the norm. 30 is pretty new and will probs take some time to adjust to.