Þing Evrópusambandsins hefur tekið tillit til sjónamiða hjólreiðafólk í umferðaröryggismálum. Við höfum áður fjallað um tillögur ECF í þeim málum og samkvæmt þessari frétt ECF gæti farið svo að hámarks umferðarhraði í þéttbýli verði 30 km/klst í öllum íbúðahverfum og þar sem aðeins er ein akrein en engin hjólarein eða -braut.
Það er mikið öryggisatriði að hægja á umferðarhraða því eins og sést á grafinu stóraukast líkur á dauðsföllum þeirra sem verða fyrir bifreið þegar hraðinn fer yfir 30 km/klst.
Einnig fagnar ECF því að fallið er frá hugmyndum um skyldunotkun endurskynsvesta við hjólreiðar.
Það á enn eftir að reyna á hvort Alþingi íslendinga sé jafn reiðubúið til að taka tillit málflutnings LHM gagnvart frumvarpi til nýrra umferðarlaga sem var til umfjöllunar í Samgöngunefnd síðast þegar fréttist af því. Þar fengu fulltrúar LHM um 20 - 30 mínútna fund með nefndinni í vor samhliða fulltrúum frá hestamönnum og bifhjólamönnum, svo ekki varð umræðan ítarleg en það var umsögn LHM hinsvegar.
Sjá frétt ECF: http://www.ecf.com/4483_1
30 km/h Zones : Halving Europe’s 35,000 Annual Road Fatalities
ECF Policy Officer Martti Tulenheimo gives us the latest update on the recent Road Safety Report tabled by a Member of European Parliament (MEP) Dieter-Lebrecht Koch (EPP) which was adopted on Tuesday by the European Parliament’s Transport Committee.
Could you imagine Europe with 30km/h speed limits in residential areas? This is already common in many cities, and thanks to a report on road safety approved by the Transport Committee on Tuesday, it could become a reality across Europe in all residential areas in the near future.
Each year, 35,000 Europeans die in road accidents with a further 1.5 million left seriously injured. With the Koch Report, the Transport Committee is hoping to halve the number of road victims by 2020. The European Cyclists’ Federation has followed closely the progress of the report throughout the procedure and will do so until it is finally adopted at the European Parliament in the Autumn of 2011.
ECF greatly appreciated that the cyclists’ opinion was listened to carefully and taken into consideration. We are happy to announce our warm support to the MEPs call for a 30km/h speed limit in all residential areas and on single-lane roads without cycle tracks. We keenly agree that professional drivers (who use a motorized vehicle for their profession) and beginners (who have their license for less than two years) should refrain from drinking any alcohol before driving.
The Graph above clearly highlights that when the impact speed is above 30 km/h, the likelihood of fatality is much higher.
It’s also encouraging to see that MEPs considered our worries when it comes to mandatory legislation on special clothing such as warning jackets. Mandatory special clothing serves to make cycling appear artificially dangerous. Therefore we appreciate that MEP Dieter-Lebrecht Koch refrained from making them obligatory and settled for encouraging individuals to decide for themselves.
ECF is strongly in favor of improved visibility. Our “Road Safety Charter” underlines a number of ways of ensuring cyclist visibility such as bicycles with built-in mandatory cycle lights, vehicles with blind sport mirror detection systems and intelligent speed assistance to name but a few solutions
This latest report is a step forward in ensuring safety for all road users, cyclists included.
