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It does not seem like much. Do not feel dizzy or adrenaline for those who go in a car, motorcycle or bus, the traffic at 50 kilometers per hour does not feel. In fact, 50 does not even reach a quarter of the speedometer that normally uses 200 km / h to the extreme in a normal car. But a pedestrian, a cyclist or a motorcyclist crushed at this speed feels a blow equivalent to the fall of a sixth floor. Since we are not designed to resist such a blow, only 15% of adults would survive this blow; much less if it's a kid or a senior.
And it turns out that cities are places where this interaction is common. Where pedestrians cross the streets, where cyclists live with traffic, where the use of motorcycles grows. This is why the decision of the Congress of Chile to lower the maximum speed in urban areas from 60 to 50 kilometers per hour is courageous and exemplary.
The loss of travel time in urban areas due to this change is insignificant or non-existent because a lower speed limit helps the flow to be more constant. The number of lives saved in traffic accidents can be very high. In the Chilean case, they estimate a reduction of 300 deaths per year, about 18% of the number of deaths in the traffic. In Colombia, this would be equivalent to more than 1,000 lives saved per year; in Bogota in the order of 100 people if the Chilean calculations were similar to ours (which is not due to the fact that our maximum speed in urban areas is 80 km / h and that we have more road traffic and less quality). 19659002] The speed change is part of the so-called Convivencia Vial law, which was approved by the Chilean Congress in the last legislature, with the exception of the speed limit that the Senate left in 60 km, distorting the law. Several activists, academics, gathered in a network of more than 150 organizations, institutions and citizens, and the Minister of Transport, Gloria Hutt Hesse, and the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Road Safety, CONASET, Luis Stuven Hurtado, supported initiative to slow down. The Senate first and now the Chamber of Deputies revised the law, and approved it. Well Chile!
https://twitter.com/bicicultura/status/1014593745457696770
The evidence is overwhelming
According to Professor Alejandro Tirachini of the University of Chile, study after study, the positive effect on road safety to reduce the maximum speed is verified:
"In the United Kingdom, they found that a decrease of 10 km / h speed traffic in an urban road generates an approximate decrease between 0.6 and 1.8 accidents per year in each direction, and in Australia the result obtained when different states reduced the urban speed limit from 60 to 50 km / h did not no doubt about the beneficial effects of the measure: a decrease of 8 to 21% in the number of accidents with injuries or death and a decrease of between 25 and 51% in the number of abuses committed by pedestrians. "
On the other hand, the average speed of circulation is not affected e at 2.5 km / h for every 10 km of maximum speed reduction. In other words, a normal 7-kilometer journey with an average speed of 25 kilometers per hour, which takes 17 minutes, would be 22.5 km / h and would take 19 minutes. A loss of only 2 minutes on the trip!
Criticism Soon Comes
Although it was a question of life and death, it was very difficult to criticize. approve this law in Chile. The intuition of legislators (and critics) is that reducing the speed limit would significantly affect travel times; that, without control, the law would have no effect, and that modern vehicles have good brakes and therefore do not need to reduce the limit.
The three critics are unfounded. Professor Tirachini explains that the speed of urban traffic is not significantly affected by the maximum speed limit. This is also well documented by the Despacio Foundation, in a series of computer graphics supported by a good list of references.
For its part, control (or control, as we say in Chile) is important. Many people exceed the established speed limit. In Bogotá, 1 in 5 drivers travel faster than the speed established, according to Johns Hopkins and Andes universities. But the rest of the people do it; that is, although control improves compliance with the norm, there are already many people doing it. In this sense the regulation is not harmless, but it improves with more police and especially with the use of electronic detection devices (cameras and radar "rescuers", incorrectly called "photomulses" ).
Finally, trust the vehicle's brakes (getting better), it's ignore that humans have reaction time. At 50 km / h, a normal reaction of 2 seconds means a 28-meter course, before starting to brake. And on the other hand, he does not know that most vehicles are not new (they are equipped with "old" brakes) and that the renovation of the park takes several years (at least two decades).
What is Necessary ]
Legal change is a necessary condition for improving road safety, but it is not enough. For an effective speed reduction, not only better control will be needed (including the cameras and lifeguard radars already mentioned), but also adequate signaling of urban roads, the disclosure of the measure, but especially changes in road design . Normally, lanes are designed and built for a much higher speed, with wide lanes, wide radii of curvature and intersections widely separated from each other. Drivers tend to drive at the speed that the infrastructure allows. Therefore, it is necessary to adapt the infrastructure: reduce track widths, intersections curvature radii and put more crosswalks (hopefully reported and traffic)
Chilean Parliament pbadage , in the company of the government, civil society and the academy is worthy of applause. Chile joins countries that follow the general recommendation of the World Health Organization. When will we be?
Source: Despacio Foundation, Speed Project
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