There’s a trend towards lower speed limits in cities all over the world, but why is this happening? What is the research behind it? And what is the “correct” speed limit for cities, anyway?

  • tissek@ttrpg.network
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    7 months ago

    Spoiler it is 30km/h. After that noise and injury risk/severity shoot up. It is the compromise speed.

    • BruceTwarzen@kbin.social
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      7 months ago

      In the next city where i live and the smaller almost cities around it, all side roads are 30km/h for a few years now. Some people seem to really hate it, and i kinda get why, when you drive there or live there and out of habit go 50 and get fined, it’s hella expensive. But i’m super happy with it. 30 is plenty

      • greenskye
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        7 months ago

        Many Americans drive faster than that in a busy parking lot.

      • FireRetardant@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Shouldn’t matter when people and children are dying from the current vehicle speed but I guess slowing down is an infringement on “freedom.”

      • vividspecterOP
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        7 months ago

        This would be restricted to city streets. If you want more speed, use the highways or bypass roads that (ideally) aren’t anywhere near residential or city areas.

        And the additional speed actually slows things down on congested roads, because you need more traffic lights (among other reasons).

      • jerkface@lemmy.ca
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        6 months ago

        Yeah well the rest of us really don’t care if “all y’all” kill each other on the road so knock yourselves out

    • Valmond@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Also in many european cities you won’t get somewhere faster even if you try, so 30 is definitely a kind of sweet spot.

      • turmacar@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Most American cities you won’t get there faster either, for all the reasons laid out in the video.

  • Gigan@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Most of his critiques are of US infrastructure, so it would have been nice to have the conversions in the video:

    30 km/h = 18.6 mph

    50 km/h = 31.1 mph

    60 km/h = 37.3 mph

    88.5 km/h = 55 mph

    • vividspecterOP
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      7 months ago

      You can roughly remember it as:

      • 20 mph = 30 km/h
      • 30 mph = 50 km/h
      • 60 mph = 100 km/h

      but thanks for the precise numbers.