In a bid to reduce the number of road accidents in the heart of KL, ten more roads are currently being proposed to have their speed limits reduced to only 30km/h (from 40km/h).
This is currently being proposed by two entities – Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS).
While the locations of the proposed-to-be-reduced speed limits are yet to be identified, all parties involved are looking at roads near schools, shopping malls, as well as transport hubs. Other factors to be included in the selection are accident records involving vulnerable road users and also complaints gathered from the nearby communities.
30km/h speed limit in Kuala Lumpur
According to MIROS chairman, Prof Dr. Wong Shaw Voon, the proposal will see roads with 40km/h speed limits reduced to 30km/h, and some with 60km/h speed limits to be reduced to 50km/h, which have already been implemented in some areas of KL. He’s also looking into incorporating the safe system approach which includes engineering, education, and enforcement.
To ensure that all of these go according to plan, Prof Dr. Wong also stated that the relevant authorities will also implement other speed management interventions such as road humps, roundabouts, speed table rumble strips (transverse bars), and more. All in a bid to get people to slow down.
Prof Dr. Wong Shaw Voon, MIROS chairman (Image credit: NST)
Other experts in the transportation planning field agree that reducing speed limits is a good start, but more needs to be done particularly in congested cities. There might be more proposals related to making KL a more user-friendly place for non-motorists, but that requires a bigger scale of road works and planning (not something like a road hump that can be fixed overnight).