Activist Lando Loves 30kph Proposal For Urban And Housing Areas

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Miros is advocating a 30kph limit for Malaysian towns and residential areas in line with the UN’s #Love30 campaign.PETALING JAYA: Road safety activist Azlan Sani Zawawi, or better known as Lando, is in full support of the proposal for 30kph to be the standard speed limit in housing estates and urban areas.
The founder of The Brotherhood, a popular volunteer group fixing potholes and voicing out against poor road conditions, is loving the #Love30 campaign for safer and healthier streets by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) and United Nations (UN).
“Thank you Miros and I love the #Love30 concept of a 30kph speed limit on busy streets or crowded areas. This is a good effort,” said Lando, appearing as a panellist discussing the topic “Motorcyclists are dying: What should we do?” at the Asean Road Safety Week 2021.
The #Love30 hashtag is a road safety campaign of the UN Global Road Safety Week with a call to governments around the world to reduce the speed limit to 30kph in cities and urban areas.
Lando, who is also the founder of Road Crash Victims Association of Malaysia, said based on his experience in Australia, low speed limits in urban areas and residential streets are a norm.
“I have been driving and riding Down Under and over there, they have a ‘step zone’ of a safe speed limit for housing estates. Even around some school zones in Australia, the speed limit is 10kph,” said the motorbike enthusiast.
He said a low speed limit should be the focus of road traffic enforcement to educate road users.
Azlan Sani Zawawi, or better known as Lando (left), and Mohamed Johan Sammy.“In Australia, the traffic police hide behind garbage bins to catch speed demons in busy townships or residential areas unlike the authorities here in Malaysia (who) concentrate too much on issuing summonses for speeding on highways such as under the Automated Enforcement System (AES),” he said.
He said road safety education and advocating courteous driving should start in residential areas and townships.
Active mobility supporter Mohamed Johan Sammy said a 30kph limit in the suburbs would encourage alternative modes of transport.
“Low speed limit is part of the traffic calming measures for livelier and safer roads,” the Penang-based project leader of Sustainable Urban Mobility Innovation of Urbanice Malaysia told FMT.
“Commercial districts and residential areas have to be safe for people who do not drive. We can have more people sharing the roads using electric scooters or electric bicycles which travel around 10kph to 15kph.”
Johan said he believed in the “sandbox approach” to encourage youngsters to shape a bright future for e-mobility by creating livelier and healthier streets.
A young supporter of Miros’ 30kph speed limit campaign.“Safe streets for the people should start with the community housing areas,” the cycling enthusiast said.
“In Malaysia, we are living in a car centric society with the majority of drivers tending to forget the minority or vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and bikers.
“We need to introduce this speed limit and bring back the old days in the ’70s and ’80s when people cycled a lot and played on the streets.”
Safe Kids Malaysia executive director Kulanthayan KC Mani said Miros should grab the opportunity to devise a long-term blueprint beyond 2030 that includes a 30kph speed limit in housing estates nationwide via the national road safety plan.
“Let’s focus firstly on the urban and residential areas and we go phase by phase,” Kulanthayan said.
“Depending on road owners’ commitment that includes local governments, the Public Works Department (JKR) and housing and commercial developers, the low speed limit proposal in the road safety plan can complement road designs and road traffic studies in the future.”
Miros is the secretariat developing the road safety plan through engagements with stakeholders since the middle of last year. It is expected to present the plan to the transport ministry by the third quarter of the year. - FMT

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