This week is the UN Global Road Safety week is taking pace for the sixth year. The theme of this week is #Love30 which calls for policymakers to decrease speed limits to 30km/h in congested areas where people and traffic mix. MasterDrive is pledging their support for the campaign to reduce the number of crashes on South African roads that involve pedestrians.
The CEO of MasterDrive, Eugene Herbert, says organisations and individuals need to unite in calling for lower speed limits in areas at high risk of collisions between vehicles and people. “On average, every 24 seconds a person is killed in a road crash worldwide. Individuals can unite with MasterDrive and other road safety organisations by adding their voice to call for speed limits of 30km/h in these areas for the UN Global Road Safety Week.
“One can do this by signing an open letter to demand ‘streets for life’ where people can drive, walk, live and play without fear of losing their lives. In 2022, world leaders will meet to discuss road safety and potential solutions. The UN has drafted the open letter which will be presented at this meeting and every person who believes in safer roads in South Africa can sign the letter.”
A reduction in speed of by 15% can reduce collisions by between 50 and 60%. “In South Africa the consensus among road safety experts is to reduce the speed limit in areas with congestion of people and vehicles to 40km/h. Thus, even though this is higher than what the #Love30 campaign calls for, the reduction and enforcement of lower speeds has the possibility to bring about drastic change to South Africa’s high road fatality rate.
“Anyone who believes in the reduction of the speed limit to realise this change on our roads, should not hesitate to add their voice to the #Love30 campaign. If organisations and individuals worldwide commit to safer roads for all, the consequent change will have far-reaching affects that will impact economies, businesses, governments and, most importantly, families,” says Herbert.
Add your voice to the UN Global Road Safety Week and the campaign by clicking this link to sign the open letter (https://www.unroadsafetyweek.org/en/home). In the meantime, help MasterDrive spread awareness of the campaign by talking about it with the #Love30 hashtag.