Motor Vehicle Speeds: Recommendations for Urban Sustainability

Författare

John N. Ivan
Thomas Jonsson
Attila Borsos

Summary, in English

This paper explores how vehicle speeds are related to equitable, environmental and economic sustainability of urban areas. This relationship is manifested primarily through an association between vehicle speeds and road crash casualties, severity of pedestrian crashes, generation of harmful emissions, and relative desirability of neighboring land. Reported research findings describing each of these associations is presented and discussed. Reported experience with implementing various methods of influencing vehicle speeds is then presented and discussed, including automated enforcement, “self-explaining roads”, and in-vehicle systems, among others. In order to support increasing sustainability of urban areas the following are recommended: (1) speed limits should be set to limit casualty risk, not according to driver choices,(2) roadways in developed areas should be designed with 10 ft lanes and on street parking and sidewalks, and (3) vehicle speeds in downtown and residential areas should be kept below 25 mi/h (preferably 20 mi/h), The paper also identifies gaps in knowledge about speed and sustainability.

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