KUALA LUMPUR: Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) are working to introduce speed limits of 30kph and 50kph in several parts of the city centre soon.
This move follows a courtesy call on Kuala Lumpur mayor Mahadi Che Ngah by Miros chairman Suret Singh and its director-general Khairil Anwar Abu Kassim.
The collaboration between the two bodies would involve identifying the stretches of roads where these speed limits can be implemented as a road safety measure.
In a tweet after the meeting, Suret announced that the institute would be working with DBKL to make this plan a reality.
He also stated that the discussion yesterday centred on the possibility of data and record sharing between DBKL and Miros. This will involve CCTV recordings of traffic offences committed in the capital city.
Miros is in the final stages of finalising the proposal for a standard 30kph speed limit for urban and residential areas, cities and villages as part of the national road safety plan for 2022-2030.
Malaysia is one of the countries that ratified the “Stockholm Declaration” on road safety, with 18 resolutions, at a global ministerial conference in February 2020.
The 80 ministers at the conference made a pledge to halve the number of road deaths by 2030 and proposed the speed limit of 30kph as “the new norm” in areas where motorcyclists, car drivers, pedestrians and cyclists are common road users.
In May last year, World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on governments around the world to urgently adopt the 30kph speed limit in cities.
“We need a new vision to create safe, healthy, green and liveable cities,” Ghebreyesus had said.
“Low-speed streets are an important part of that vision. As we recover and rebuild from Covid-19, let’s make safer roads for a safer world.”
WHO said mobility and road traffic volume had decreased overall because of Covid-19 lockdowns and more people working from home.
Child Health Initiative global ambassador Zoleka Mandela had stated that anything above 30kph is a death sentence.
“Today and every day, 3,000 children are killed or injured on the world’s roads. This is a crisis that is man-made and is entirely preventable,” she said.
Zoleka is the granddaughter of Nelson Mandela. She lost her 13-year-old daughter Zenani in a road crash in Soweto after returning from a pre-tournament concert during the World Cup in South Africa 11 years ago. - FMT
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