Photo: John Howard / Pixabay
The United Nations (UN) has presented its Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011 – 2030 , an initiative in which it proposes to lower the speed limit allowed on highways to 62 mph (100 kph). The main intention of this proposal is to reduce the number of deaths and injuries associated with these spaces where drivers tend to reach very high speeds in their cars, putting their lives and those of others at risk.
In general terms, the plan is made up of three actions that the UN considers essential to attack this problem :
1. Ensure safety when walking, biking, and using public transportation.
2. Ensure safe roads, vehicles and behaviors.
3. Guarantee timely and effective emergency care.
The UN maintains that 1.3 million people die each year due to speed on the world’s roads and this gigantic number seems to have undergone no favorable change after the organization introduced and applied a similar plan in 2011, targeting the past decade. Now, according to the organization’s forecast, the new plan, drawn up in conjunction with the World Health Organization (WHO), could reduce by 50% unfortunate figures in the next 10 years and would mainly benefit the younger population, considered the most affected by this problem, which the organization considers a “silent pandemic.”
“The time has come to start what we know works and switch to a much safer and healthier mode of transport. This new plan will take countries on a more sustainable path ”, assured Etienne Krug, Director of the World Health Organization’s Department of Injury and Violence Prevention.
In addition to motorways, the proposal aims to reduce speed in other neglected spaces: urban centers and conventional roads in 18 mph and 49 mph , respectively, but its range of action could exclude the United States, due to the large number of regulations that exist in the country around certain dangerous habits such as using the telephone while operating a vehicle or driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol (DUI and DWI) , regulations that do not exist in many developing countries, considered as most affected by this problem.
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