Cities worldwide can save thousands of lives every year through fairly simple measures: traffic calming and speed management. Readjusting vehicle speed limits on urban roads is one of the key initiatives highlighted by the UN and the WHO to help countries meet the target of halving traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2030.
Yet, meeting this commitment on time is proving difficult. This is partly because the road ahead is congested: accustomed to high speeds, administrators, decision-makers, and the public are reluctant to make way for the best practices in road safety. Some of these practices, such as enforcement, have drawn criticism for years. Few, however, suffer from the same level of unpopularity as speed management and reduction.
