The traffic relief project was one of the issues discussed during the experts’ panel organised by the NIK Branch in Poznań devoted to traffic safety and quality of local roads. This concept works in a few agglomerations now. After Gdańsk, Poznań and Sopot, Warsaw is also getting ready to introduce the so-called 30 km/h zone. The speed limit is to cover the areas where the vehicle and foot traffic is most intense.
Statement of Hubert Igliński, PhD on the 30 km/h zone
30 km/h zone in cities?
The key purpose of the 30 km/h zone is to increase safety. There are still plenty of road traffic fatalities among pedestrians. Experts emphasise that in case of potential traffic collision with an unprotected person, the vehicle speed should not exceed 30 km/h.
Drivers are afraid, though, that the 30 km/h zone will radically prolong the driving time. On the other hand, the speed limit may contribute to the traffic relief in traffic-jammed cities. ”Paradoxically, in large agglomerations the average speed on the roads with the 30 km/h speed limit is higher than on the roads where you can drive up to 50 km/h” - claims Hubert Igliński, PhD, expert in international logistics. And he gives an example: ”The Swedish have checked the average speed in city centres after implementing the 30 km/h zone and it turned out to be about 25 km/h. In Poznań, where you could drive nearly twice as fast until recently, the average speed was less than 18 km/h.
A memo from the experts’ debate on the 30 km/h zone will be included in the NIK report concerning traffic organisation and safety on local roads. The audit is being conducted by the NIK Branch in Poznań. It should be finished by the end of October.
![30 km/h zone in cities? [experts’ panel]](/plik/big/id,5271.jpg)