Residential streets should have 30 km/h speed limits

The Problem

Streets designed for car speed rather than human safety kill pedestrians and cyclists. Children can't walk to school safely. Neighborhoods become hostile to anyone outside a car. Traffic deaths are treated as inevitable when they're actually preventable.

The Standard

All residential and neighborhood streets should have 30 km/h (20 mph) maximum speed limits, enforced through physical traffic calming design - not just signs. Higher-speed arterial roads require physical separation between cars and cyclists/pedestrians.

Where It Exists

The Netherlands implemented this through "Sustainable Safety" since 1992. Result: 97% decrease in child traffic fatalities from 1970s to 2010. 36% of Dutch trips are by bicycle. The "Stop Child Murder" movement proved traffic deaths are a design choice.