Road traffic crashes kill about 1.19 million people each year and seriously injure another 20 million to 50 million. Pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists — the most vulnerable road users — account for half of these deaths and injuries. Even people in motor vehicles are at considerable risk, particularly on high-speed roads. Of all contributing factors, excessive speed is universally recognized as the leading cause of fatal and serious traffic incidents worldwide.Guide for Safe Speeds: Managing Traffic Speeds to Save Lives and Improve Livability  View the reportSpeed-related risks are both widely known and highly preventable. Proven solutions exist, and it is well understood where and how to effectively apply them. In collaboration with the World Bank, WRI has developed the Guide for Safe Speeds: Managing Traffic Speeds to Save Lives and Improve Livability. This guide presents strong evidence to support informed decision-making and addresses common misconceptions about speed management.Why Speed Management Matters Beyond Safety Managing speed isn’t just about safety — it’s also a powerful tool for improving quality of life, especially in urban areas. Slower traffic speeds reduce air and noise pollution, create safer spaces for walking and cycling and even help alleviate urban congestion, despite common misconceptions. These improvements encourage active mobility and support public health by reducing exposure to harmful pollutants and promoting physical activity. Adopting a New Approach to Speed Limits Instead of reacting to crashes after they occur, the guide promotes a forward-looking, systemic strategy grounded in the Safe System approach. This model recognizes that while human error is inevitable, both road fatalities and serious injuries are preventable and unacceptable.  Central to the guide is the Roads-for-Life (R4L) framework — a practical, research-backed methodology for setting and evaluating speed limits. It follows four principles to ensure all speeds limits are safe and credible. Safety for all users is recognized as the guiding principle with community wellbeing, predictability and network availability as supporting principles to ensure equity, practicality, consistency and compliance.  R4L not only helps determine safe speeds for existing roads but also assesses the safety implications of design speeds for new road projects. By aligning speed limits with road design and supporting them with the appropriate infrastructure, the framework enhances safety for all users within livable communities. The Roads-for-Life Framework approach guides speed management implementation to achieve safer, more livable streets.While our transportation and traffic systems have historically prioritized vehicle movement over the safety of other users, this guide offers tools to help shift toward systems that create a safer environment for everyone. In many countries, speed limits are still determined based on the “desired” speeds of drivers. However, this approach overlooks a critical reality — the speeds drivers choose are not inherently safe, particularly for vulnerable road users (VRUs). The R4L framework provides a more context-sensitive approach, using a road hierarchy to set speed limits, in urban and rural roads, based on the specific road environment, the type of infrastructure and the mix of users present.  The Roads-for-Life Framework matrix helps select safe speed limits based on road type, function and presence of vulnerable road users in urban areas.  Building on this framework, the guide provides tools for decision makers and infrastructure engineers to implement effective speed management strategies and action plans. Once a city identifies a road for speed reduction interventions, it should classify the road type based on its capacity to move people and goods and the presence of vulnerable road users. Then, using the matrix, it can identify the safe speed limit. For example, an urban road with single lane roads in each direction, lined with coffee shops and small businesses where people frequently cross the street, would be classified as an “urban human activity road.” The safe speed limit for this road is a maximum of 30 kph (about 20 mph).  Making Safe Speeds a Reality The guide provides a step-by-step approach to developing, implementing and monitoring speed management at a national, regional or local level. It also offers solutions for specific locations — such as busy arterial roads shared by vehicles and VRUs — outlining effective local policies, interventions, processes and enabling conditions for supporting safe speed limits. Using case studies and emphasizing evidence-based interventions, the Guide for Safe Speeds serves as a key resource for policymakers seeking to make the case for safe speeds, secure political commitment and gain community support. By embracing these strategies, they can create safer, more livable environments for everyone on the road.  The Guide for Safe Speeds was published with funding support from Bloomberg Philanthropies and UK Aid. 

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