The measure is aimed at reducing accidents in urban areas with heavy pedestrian traffic and narrow streets, marking a major shift in the country’s traffic rules as these roads account for around 70% of all ordinary roads nationwide.
[…] above [30 kph] the risk of pedestrians suffering fatal injuries in accidents is said to spike.
[…]
The aim of the speed limit change “is to prevent accidents by stopping dangerous driving, such as failing to slow down even on busy streets”
Sidewalks are quite rare outside major corridors in space-constrained Japan (you’re often lucky to get so much as a gutter or a hint of a shoulder to walk/cycle on), so this is an overdue move indeed.
Pictured below is a pretty normal street width/layout in both rural and urban Japan, and the street I lived on was about 30-50% narrower than even this, and had high walls on either side (zero setbacks).
yikes. it’s 60kph now on a street like that? half that seems far more reasonable, even without giant trucks and suv on the streets.
Yeah but it’s Japan. So, in my experience at least, if driers can see pedestrians they’re not driving that fast at all. It would be dishonourable 😄 but seriously, they’re driving carefully.
Just passed my driving test. You’re legally obligated to drive bellow 10 km/h or stop completely if there are pedestrians on roads like this.
There we have it, everyone!
My carbrain seeing the title: Wtf, 30 for normal residential areas is a bit TOO low, we have 50 in most of Europe and that’s just fine
My carbrain after seeing the photo: Nah this would be 20 in my country and in the vicinity of pedestrians, at pedestrian speed. AKA you’d definitely see one of these signs.
It’s wild they allowed 60 on streets like this in the first place. That must feel like street racing going down this narrow alley. I was sort of expecting a regular street with a sidewalk upon seeing the title and the fact that it used to be 60.
It’s going to 30km/h (20mph) in many more countries now as a result of the Stockholm Declaration on Road Safety in 2020 (later endorsed by the UN) which puts a lot of emphasis on specifically 20lm/h speed limits. In the UK there is a big push for 20mph; in Wales most roads have been made 20mph.
There are still 3,558 pedestrian deaths per year in the EU, while there are 7,080 per year in the US.
The Stockholm Declaration aims for 50% fewer road deaths in 2030 compared to 2020.
A pedestrian hit at 30 km/h has about a 90% chance of surviving, but at 50 km/h, survival drops to about 20%. So while I get the appeal of driving fast, I think it’s a very reasonable measure. 1000s of deaths per year to shave minutes off arrival times is not acceptable.
Source: am cycling campaigner in the UK
I’m assuming that it had stayed so high for so long precisely because almost everyode was driving well under the speed limit.
I hope so.
In the Netherlands cities are going to 30kmh anywhere cars come in contact with other traffic participants.
In the Netherlands those rural looking roads are up to 80kmh, up to 100 in Germany, 90 in Belgium.
You know I couldn’t imagine going 40 miles an hour down that road but I’m sure people do