Traffic Fatalities
Piloting and passing sensible speed limit legislation
Creating safer streets in urban areas to reduce traffic deaths in over 50 cities
This solution involves cities testing, setting, and enforcing speed limits in accordance with WHO recommendations for urban areas at 30 kilometers per hour alongside engaging communities on road safety benefits. Since 2007, Bloomberg Philanthropies has saved lives and reduced injuries from traffic crashes through these interventions in over 50 cities and provinces from Mumbai, India to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. By 2030, these efforts are projected to save nearly 312,000 lives.
The Impact:
- Reducing speeds reduces road traffic deaths. In Fortaleza, Brazil, when the maximum speed was lowered, the city saw a 68% reduction in fatal crashes.
- Enforcement and improvements create safer streets. In 2022, Fortaleza recorded 157 traffic deaths, 5.8 per 100K inhabitants, less than half of the continent’s average of 14.1.
- The policy’s success has prompted its replication in 27 cities across five countries.
What you can do with this idea:
- Recognize that the safe speed in urban areas is 30km/hr.
- Engage community members on the benefit of lower speed limits.
- Identify priority areas for speed management by identifying dangerous corridors or areas in the city that need lower speeds to protect residents.
- Implement a pilot speed management project in one or more of the identified target areas by setting, encouraging and enforcing speed limits in accordance with WHO recommendations.
Download Fact Sheet: