Road transport systems have contributed enormously to the development of most countries in the world. By improving people’s ability to access education, employment and health care and enhancing the efficiency of businesses to provide goods and services, such systems have resulted in a number of positive economic and social benefits. However, there are also adverse consequences resulting from ever expanding road transport systems and the services they facilitate. Rapid motorization has frequently been accompanied by corresponding increases in road traffic deaths and injuries, while many urban areas now face the additional challenges of increasing levels of air pollution - and associated rises in respiratory diseases - and increasing congestion, which in turn are linked to reduced levels of physical activity and other health consequences. Speed has a positive effect on mobility in terms of reducing transport times, but it impacts negatively on road safety, affecting both the likelihood of a road traffic crash and the severity of its consequences. Speed also has adverse effects on levels of environmental and noise pollution, and the “liveability” of urban areas. Over the last decade, along with greater global attention to reducing speed as part of efforts to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries, there has been a growing movement - often instigated at local level - concerned with strategies to manage speed in communities, and the potential benefits in terms of safer and more liveable streets. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting