Safe Speed Limit for Smart Road Safety

From the analysis of over 14 years of police reported crash from South Australia (SA) and New South Wales (NSW), Doecke et al. (2018) concluded the safe speed limit to reduce the fatality of various traffic crashes in the urban area. The study strongly suggests the correlation between increasing speed of vehicle to the injury severity of crashes. As the speed limit is a traffic speed variable that is set directly by the policy, understanding the speed limit is critical to lower the fatality of crashes in urban roads. the study found the following are the appropriate speed limit to prevent severe various crashes, 40 km/h for pedestrian crashes, 50 km/h for head on crashes, 60 km/h for hit fixed object crashes, 80 km/h for right angle, right turn and left road / rollover crashes, and 110 km/h or more for rear end crashes. Despite recognising the significance of lowering speed limit in reducing injury severity on road crashes, having the speed limit sign, or raising the awareness of lowering road users’ speed is insufficient. This study also advocates for better road design that encourage and road users to lower their speed through better safety measure in the road infrastructure.

Reference

Doecke, S. D., Kloeden, C. N., Dutschke, J. K., & Baldock, M. R. (2018). Safe speed limits for a safe system: The relationship between speed limit and fatal crash rate for different crash types. Traffic injury prevention, 19(4), 404-408.

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