Photo courtesy of Barcelona Cycle Chic.
I published my christmas list a while back - 30 km/h zones all over Copenhagen. The Dutch responded quickly, slapping a bold proposal on the table in Amsterdam for a 30 km/h in their city and now, feliz navidad from Barcelona:
From the City of Barcelona's website we can see that one of the most important 'Zones 30' in the city is now being carried out.
'The city embarks on one of the largest "Zones 30" campaigns to be carried out to date. Work began on Monday 25th in the La Ribera district. It will last six months and cover 14 neighbourhoods in 7 of the city's districts.'
June 2006 saw the first pilot "Zone 30" designated in the Sant Andreu district. Accident rates in this region were subsequently found to have dropped by up to 27 %. Numbers like these are what we are seeing in cities and towns that are reducing their speed levels.It is a simple, inexpensive tool to promote traffic calming and to reduce accidents involving pedestrians and cyclists as well as to reduce the number of serious accidents.The creation of these 30 km/h zones [even lower in school zones] is one of the primary tools that is most effective at fighting the societal scourage of traffic accidents and to encourage cycling. Not to mention just making a city a nicer place to live.Barcelona will have 215 km of 30 km/h zones by the end of the year. At the moment there are 50 km.
Thanks to Txell from Barcelona Cycle Chic for the tip.
