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Many cities in Switzerland are implementing the same, but there is significant opposition from the rural areas. I hope we will arrive at 30km/h in all urban areas.
"We would like to set a speed limit in the cities."
"Yo boss, the people from the countryside are protesting about your law in the cities."
What
How does no one in this thread realise that these "urban areas" speed limits also apply to all the tiny villages that are currently 50kph. In Europe any time you pass a village entry sign you are now in an urban area as far as speed limit goes. PS: I am for the 30kph limits, no qualm there.
I mean, that's how I read it, too. It's going to be the default for any urban area, cities of millions, towns of dozens.
But that doesn't stop rural towns from increasing the speed limit by posting a 50kph sign, either where it is reasonable, or overall. When you enter any town/city-limits by car, you need to slow down to 30kph, unless there is a speed sign allowing for higher or lower speeds.
This is literally all a town needs to say "the 30kph limit is nice, but we don't want that":
It's because many people, especially in the "car bad" crowd, don't give a fuck about the rules of the road as long as they don't see any personal benefit for themselves in others obeying them.
Weird take.
I'm in the "car bad" crowd (actually, it's the "car useful, but should be mostly for emergency services, disabled people, deliveries, etc. including in rural areas for people who need it)
I care very much about the rules, and how it affects everyone. Rules make driving safer. Having 30km/hr default doesn't prevent a town from putting up signs on certain roads to increase the limit...
This law is also good for town life, because side streets become more pleasant and safer by default.
Like, it's not making the limit 30 km/hr on a rural highway...
I do realize that though.
Could be people commuting
We mostly commute by train cause we have amazing public transportation, unfortunately they are working on cutting the 50% discount card for frequent train travelers because (no joke) too many people are using it (about 1/3 of the country). This will lead to public transport being more expensive than owning and commuting by car for many.
Sure, and for 90% of they distance they would still be unaffected. So there is still really no reason.
Duck them.
Hot take: Rural drivers shouldn't get a say in how urban roads are designed
It's not their city. They don't live in it. They can stay in their town if they don't like it
My thoughts exactly!
Literally no. By definition small towns don't have a lot of things in them, and so the things they do have tend to be pretty basic. If you need specialist medicine, for example, you definitely will have to go to a major city. And that's not even getting into the open countryside people, who exist in at least the less dense European countries.
I mean, you can still hold the position they shouldn't get a say, but not that they can totally opt out of whatever is decided.
Is it not crazy to think that people in rural areas also enjoy the city and go to urban areas? It's still the same country.
As visitors though. I don't think their needs are irrelevant, but they shouldn't carry as much weight as the daily users'
So the inhabitants of small towns driving daily to work to the next city get a say? I don't know about Switzerland, but in my area these are a considerate amount, if not the majority of cars in smaller cities. Most don't need a car living in the city, but you cannot commute into the city without in most cases.
Would you consider someone who uses the road daily as a daily user?
If so, re-reading my comment will provide a solution.
Not sure it's visiting necessarily if it's their nearest urban center, as then it would be their main source of a lot of stuff so it's theirs too.
That sounds fair but urban people don't seem to have any issue with forcing their opinions on speed limits on rural people. If it works one way then why not the other?
More incentive fo bikes and public transit if taking a car is more obnoxious (and safer for pedestrians)
Exactly. We have excellent public transport (possibly the best in the world, tied with Japan) and distances are short because the country is so small.
Bus is also gonna go 30 max though?
Buses generally don't go fast anyway in urban areas
They do, it's just the average speed is low because they have to stop every few hundred meters.
I once had a grad class that let out at at 10pm. On the bus ride to class, I was fine. On the ride from class my stomach was in my throat, all the nausea. After a few classes I figured out the difference: on the way to class, there was traffic and people getting on and off. On the home the bus just booked it over all the potholes because it didn't have up constantly stop.
That's also when I learned Dramamine [anti-nausea med] makes me wicked nauseous on an empty stomach.
Probably one of those cultural things that differs by locale
Why? The rural areas are by definition not urban.
They are.
For any built up area with appropriate signage, the urban speed limit gets applied.
Also a large chunk of the rural population is commuting by car, and has to change their (driving) habits, and changing habits takes effort.
Right, do if an area isn't rural, it's not considered rural.
It's different in Europe. When they say "rural", they mean any small town not adjacent to a city or other conurbation.
The density of small towns that have hundreds of years of history but are only 5-10km apart from the next 3-4 towns surrounding it are in a stark contrast to the 20-50km distances between North American towns. And rural farms are relatively rare. Farmers generally still live in the small town and then drive their tractor out to the fields.