The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) has put forward a set of proposals to try to reduce the number of fatal road accidents in South Africa.
A large part of this intervention programme is centred on lowering the speed limit in designated areas, particularly focusing on urban areas around schools and roads cyclists tend to use, according to BusinessTech. The proposals were made on 15 February.
It is not the first time the corporation has raised the idea. The RTMC has been working to reduce road accident fatalities for the past couple of years.
Early stages of the intervention programme included a 20km/h lowering of speed limits countrywide. In effect, it would have brought highway speed limits from 120km/h to 100km/h, main road speed limits from 100km/h to 80km/h, and residential area speed limits from 60km/h to 40km/h.
This was not well received, and many people, including the public and experts in the field, criticised the proposal, saying it would be a ‘terrible idea’, according to MyBroadband.
The new proposal – in line with the United Nations (UN) recommendation to reduce speed limits by 10km/h worldwide – would change the speed limit on urban roads from 60km/h to 50km/h, as well as change the speed limit on highways from 120km/h to 110km/h.
In addition, the UN also recommends a speed limit of 30km/h in residential areas. Discussions are under way, and formal changes to regulations have not been put in place yet.
Picture: Pexels
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