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Japan halves speed limit to 30km/h on all narrow city streets

theguardian.com

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Re: Japan halves speed limit to 30km/h on all narrow city streets

#11

Post by Firaxus »

cucumber3732842 wrote: post #7

>slashed from 60km/h (37mph) to 30km/h > applies to residential roads with no centre line or maximum speed signs, media report >The measures apply to about 870,000km of roads that are less than 5.5 metres wide and do not have centre lines or median strips, according to the Mainichi Shimbun. They account for about 70% of the country’s general roads, the newspaper said. So basically they went from no effective speed li…

Anec-data, but I was in japan recently on my honeymoon, was in some big and small cities, and I was shocked at how fast people were driving on exactly these types of roads. I grew up in a neighborhood where the speedlimit is 20mph, which is slightly higher than this new regulation, so fwiw I think I can recognize when cars are going faster than that as they wiz by me.

So I’m pretty optimistic about this change, better than they way things are now at least.

Re: Japan halves speed limit to 30km/h on all narrow city streets

#12

Post by idoubtit »

Maybe in Japan it will be effective. Since their "zone 30" creation was apparently a success, it seems probable that people will generally comply. My experience in France differs.

I live in a French town where the default speed limit is 30 km/h instead of the national 50 km/h. In the street where I live, the drivers that willingly (sometimes they can't overtake bikes and slow cars) observe that limit are a tiny minority. Why would they, since there are no automated controls in the city, and police sets manual controls once in a blue moon.

My street was already at 30 km/h in 2016 when the global speed limit was introduced by the city council. I'm pretty sure the mean speed has increased since then, though I don't have hard facts to prove it[^1]. At first I thought that, since all road signs were removed except on the city borders, the drivers needed a constant reminder of a limit that they'd prefer to ignore. Now I just think that people soon saw that there was almost no risk in breaking the law.

[^1]: There was a study, but the methodology was so poor that it was inconclusive. They monitored the speed in a dozen streets before and after the change, but it was done for different lengths of time (one or two weeks), at different times of the year, and with explicitly no attention payed to potential popular events or roadworks. So the average speed was globally lower after the change, but in most streets it had increased!

Re: Japan halves speed limit to 30km/h on all narrow city streets

#14

Post by cryptopian »

PunchyHamster wrote: post #8
cpursley wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? It’s the children who get run over by speeding assholes.

that might be news to you but those people don't give a shit about speed limits

Worse than that, driving can be a partially subconscious activity and people tend to drive at the speed that "feels" right. It's why the best approach to slowing motor vehicles in places with people walking is to physically design the road to feel uncomfortable driving too fast, rather than slap a 20mph sign on a wide straight road.

Re: Japan halves speed limit to 30km/h on all narrow city streets

#16

Post by eloisius »

ghere wrote: post #3

The sign of an area run by old people

Not really. Taipei is basically a geriatric colony. You can tell because every year they shut down or limit the hours of nightlife districts, slow the MRT escalators down (more), spend public money on geezer karaoke social hours, etc. But not speed limits. It’s always the senile farts blasting their Mercedes down the street at high speed, losing control and plowing into school kids. There’s absolutely no political will to reduce speeds on residential streets.

Re: Japan halves speed limit to 30km/h on all narrow city streets

#17

Post by rwmj »

NalNezumi wrote: post #10

The article don't have a good picture of a small road. Here's an example https://kuruma-news.jp/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/20230214_g... Usually these roads are so small, you can barely fit a car and maybe one pedestrian on one / each side. And these streets are quite common in residential area. As in the picture, usually there are light poles along the pedestrian street. the pictures pole is pretty small but normall…

The really big thing in Japan is you're not allowed to park ("litter") your car in the street. In fact you can't even buy a car unless you can prove you have somewhere on your own land where you can park it. It makes a big improvement to walkability and general attractiveness of neighbourhoods.

Re: Japan halves speed limit to 30km/h on all narrow city streets

#18

Post by rwmj »

ghere wrote: post #3

The sign of an area run by old people

From the article:

> The introduction in 2011 of “zone 30” areas on a limited number of residential streets and along school routes resulted in a 30% reduction in fatalities and serious injuries

This benefits everyone.

Re: Japan halves speed limit to 30km/h on all narrow city streets

#19

Post by postepowanieadm »

NalNezumi wrote: post #10

The article don't have a good picture of a small road. Here's an example https://kuruma-news.jp/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/20230214_g... Usually these roads are so small, you can barely fit a car and maybe one pedestrian on one / each side. And these streets are quite common in residential area. As in the picture, usually there are light poles along the pedestrian street. the pictures pole is pretty small but normall…

Even 30 seems a bit optimistic and 60 is insane.

Re: Japan halves speed limit to 30km/h on all narrow city streets

#20

Post by motbus3 »

postepowanieadm wrote: post #19
NalNezumi wrote: post #10

The article don't have a good picture of a small road. Here's an example https://kuruma-news.jp/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/20230214_g... Usually these roads are so small, you can barely fit a car and maybe one pedestrian on one / each side. And these streets are quite common in residential area. As in the picture, usually there are light poles along the pedestrian street. the pictures pole is pretty small but normall…

Even 30 seems a bit optimistic and 60 is insane.

It is insane that 60 was ever considered a limit :P 20 seems much more than needed
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