Congress passes law to lower the urban speed limit from 60 to 50 kilometers an hour; this could reduce road traffic accident fatalities by up to 25%
Transportation and Telecommunications Minister Gloria Hutt welcomed Congressional approval for the bill, which will bring Chile in line with OECD standards.
With 114 votes in favor and 8 against, the bill to reduce the speed limit in urban areas from 60 to 50 kilometers per hour was passed into law.
This is a crucial step for road traffic safety in Chile, especially for vulnerable users such as pedestrians and cyclists, who account for 42% of fatalities.
To date, Chile is the only OECD country with an urban speed limit greater than 50 kilometers an hour and one of only two that saw an increase in fatal crashes in the period 1995 to 2007.
Transportation and Telecommunications Minister Gloria Hutt said that lowering the speed limit will make a difference, since 30% of fatal accidents are associated with speed, which is the main cause of traffic-related deaths in Chile.
“This is an important step that will decrease the number of road traffic accidents and raise awareness that speed is a risk factor when driving. We believe that this measure must be accompanied by adequate oversight and on-going prevention campaigns,” said the Minister.
To this end, the government is promoting the creation of an automated center to detect traffic offenses using photo radar systems. Using this technology it is estimated that oversight capacity will increase (currently Chile’s uniformed police officers detect 3,000 out of every 10,000 offenses). It is thought that its deterrent effect could reduce accident fatalities by up to 40%, as has been observed in countries that have implemented camera systems, such as France or Spain.
The maximum speed limit in urban areas was increased in 2002. During the year following that change, there was a 29% increase in urban accidents and 25% increase in fatalities. It is estimated that lowering the speed limit could reduce deaths or serious injuries due to road traffic accidents by up to 25%.
Statistics to consider
In 2017, 94,879 road traffic accidents were recorded, resulting in 1,483 fatalities and 62,171 injuries.
In 2017, 28% of fatalities were due to drivers using reckless speed or losing control of the vehicle, which caused 419 deaths.
Speed was the leading cause of death in traffic accidents in 2017.
In 2017 8,067 speed-related road traffic accidents were recorded, in which a total of 8,491 people were injured.