‘Hidden Heroes’ – Global Cities Are Honored For Tackling Deadly Speeds
Eight cities around the world have been recognized for their efforts to lower speed limits and other strategies to prevent and reduce speed-related road crash injuries and fatalities. Winners in the first-ever Initiative for Global Road Safety Speed Challenge, including Bogotá, Colombia, which experienced zero fatalities in the first six months after implementing a series of safety initiatives, were announced on Wednesday by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
“Speeding kills 1,600 people every day,” Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Philanthropies, WHO Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases and Injuries, and the 108th mayor of New York City, said in a statement. “In fact, it’s a leading cause of preventable injuries and deaths worldwide.”
Driving at a higher speed significantly increases the likelihood of a crash occurring and the severity of its consequence. It’s a contributing factor in about a third of motor vehicle deaths in the United States and other high-income countries, and a half in some low- and middle-income countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). But strategies like reducing speed, even by 5%, can reduce deaths by 30%.
The awards were given based on a city’s success in adopting the WHO’s recommended speed limit – under 50 kilometers per hour, (about 30 miles per hour) in urban areas and under 30 km/h (about 18 mph) in high-risk zones, like around schools and hospitals.
The honored cities also implemented a range of strategies to reduce dangerous speeding: redesigning city streets, incorporating features like speed humps and raised pedestrian crossings; enhancing enforcement, and promoting media campaigns to raise awareness.
The winners will receive from $50,000 to $100,000 to further advance their efforts. In addition to lowering speed limits to meet WHO recommendations, the cites and their specific accomplishments are:
Gold
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia sustained speed enforcement operations, and installed more than 640 concrete and 1,500 rubber speed humps citywide, including in school zones. Crash data from specific locations show that 37 lives were saved because of the interventions.
Bogotá, Colombia installed parabolic speed humps, which were previously not authorized in 50 km/h corridors, and sustained police speed enforcement. The city experienced zero fatalities in the first six months of implementation, an 82% decrease in injuries to vulnerable road users, like pedestrians and cyclists, and 60% fewer vehicles exceeding speed limits in school zones.
Silver
Bengaluru, India redesigned 75 intersections throughout the city, which slowed traffic and increased safety, and enforced speeding by using a toll booth autopay system to recover fines.
Buenos Aires, Argentina introduced a speed limit reduction to 50 km/h on select high-risk roads and upgraded enforcement technology, including fixed speed cameras and mobile speed measuring devices like hand-held radar guns.
Guadalajara, Mexico adopted a policy to allow the city’s mobility department to enforce speed limits, updated regulations to include defined speed limits near schools, and implemented standardized traffic signs.
Bronze
Kampala, Uganda contributed to national road safety regulations and installed raised pedestrian crossings near 20 schools.
Mombasa, Kenya constructed speed humps and raised pedestrian crossings near five schools, and aired a media campaign, “Slow Down, Speeding Ruins Lives.”
Quito, Ecuador developed the city’s first Road Safety Ordinance, which focuses on data-driven enforcement, a citywide safety plan, a specialized road safety unit, and enhanced speed enforcement through portable cameras, leading to a 32% reduction in traffic fatalities during the enforcement campaign.
“Road safety is a pressing global public health challenge,” Kelly Henning, public health program lead at Bloomberg Philanthropies, told Forbes. World Bank estimates, she noted, show that speeding claims the lives of some 600,000 people each year, about half of the world’s crash-related deaths.
“Like many of the other public health issues Bloomberg Philanthropies addresses, road safety challenges are concentrated in low- and middle-income countries, where over 90 % of road crash fatalities occur,” Dr. Henning said. “These countries also often lack the support necessary to tackle threats like inadequate road safety laws, limited police enforcement of existing laws, and street designs that do not consider road users like pedestrians and cyclists.”
She said the Speed Challenge fits into the more robust goals of the Initiative for Global Road Safety “by spotlighting the most effective actions cities have taken to save lives and inspiring other jurisdictions to follow their lead.”
For more information about the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety, click here.
