Iām generally a big fan of health policy interventionsāfor traffic regulation my main uncertainty is over whether speed limits are even binding, to make a difference in dense urban environments where terrible traffic jams occur anyway and enforcement is poor, such that changing the de jure policy may not do much. Any general thoughts on the issue?
Great point, Joel. This is something that we discussed while writing the report, as it feels relevant to Thailand and Pakistan. Traffic jams come into play hereānot only because they might limit the de facto speed, but because theyāre so unpopular that politicians could be concerned about proposing a policy that could be linked to making these worse. That being said, we donāt know how āurbanā is being defined hereāitās possible that there are periurban areas further out in cities that really would benefit from a lower speed limit.
Enforcement is a different issue altogether, and one we didnāt have time to look into. I think our general take from speaking to AIPF was that any policymaking efforts on this should plan for a level of enforcement advocacy as well to achieve effective change.
Thanks Aisling and team!
Iām generally a big fan of health policy interventionsāfor traffic regulation my main uncertainty is over whether speed limits are even binding, to make a difference in dense urban environments where terrible traffic jams occur anyway and enforcement is poor, such that changing the de jure policy may not do much. Any general thoughts on the issue?
Great point, Joel. This is something that we discussed while writing the report, as it feels relevant to Thailand and Pakistan. Traffic jams come into play hereānot only because they might limit the de facto speed, but because theyāre so unpopular that politicians could be concerned about proposing a policy that could be linked to making these worse. That being said, we donāt know how āurbanā is being defined hereāitās possible that there are periurban areas further out in cities that really would benefit from a lower speed limit.
Enforcement is a different issue altogether, and one we didnāt have time to look into. I think our general take from speaking to AIPF was that any policymaking efforts on this should plan for a level of enforcement advocacy as well to achieve effective change.