The various initiatives — known as Tempo 30 in German-speaking countries, City 30 across Europe, Love30 by the WHO and 20’s Plenty in the UK and the US, the latter referring to miles per hour — have been gaining steam in recent years. Paris and Brussels introduced a default speed limit of 30 kilometers per hour in 2021, Lyons in 2022 and Bologna in early 2024, with Milan and Parma planning to follow suit this year. Beyond the EU, Wales introduced a 20 mph limit as the default for all residential roads in September 2023, and a couple of US cities, like Portland, have begun reducing their residential speed limit to 20 mph.
due to smoother traffic flow the average speed was only reduced by 0.5 kilometers per hour.
Yeah, I wish people understood that, or even thought about it. So many seem to just speed by default. I’ve gotten some weird looks when I told that I always go 10 km/h below the speed limit on certain roads, because you get stuck in a slowdown anyways.
If there is any slowdown between you and your target, then driving fast will just get you stuck behind it sooner…It’s just like carheads not understanding that good bike infrastructure would be actually beneficial for them as we because it means less cars (and bikes) on the road, so less congestion overall. Everybody wins!
I hate the trend of drivers here in the states. I’ve had arguments where these huge truck drivers who can’t see over their own hood are saying they DESERVE to drive fast in neighborhoods.
When I ask about children their response is “where are their parents?”. Zero responsibility from them. Go Europe for reducing speed limits in cities. Every day it feels like America is some failed experiment or mirror verse compared to them
Our small town is in the process of putting up 30km/h traffic signs everywhere except for some through roads. I don’t expect much to change - pretty much nobody drives faster than that in a residential area with lots of curves and small kids anyway - but making it official is an overdue step.
Now we just need to enforce some basic traffic laws for bikes as well and using the roads is going to be a lot more pleasant for everybody.
