Streets for Life Progress across Eastern Europe and Central Asia,

8 September 2021

Support for low-speed ‘Streets for Life’ is significant across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, with more than three-quarters of the public supporting school zone road speeds of 30km/h or lower. The results are highlighted in new polling from FIA Foundation Advocacy Hub partner Eastern Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Transport (EASST), which is building momentum to secure policy change in the region.

The polling was undertaken to establish a regional knowledge baseline at the start of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety in order to understand public perceptions of speed and the benefits of lowering speed limits, to frame country-level advocacy campaigns as well as to act as a measure of public opinion. Polling asked over 3,000 respondents across nine countries about their perceptions of speeding and lowering speed limits to 30km/h on local urban roads, with a particular emphasis on school zones. The survey will be repeated at least once in two years’ time to track how public opinion may be shifting as a result of the project activities.

The Streets for Life Campaign  was launched in May to mark the start of the 6th UN Global Road Safety Week, highlighting the benefits of low-speed streets in urban areas and calling on policy-makers to limit speeds to 30 km/h (20 mph) on streets where pedestrians, cyclists and others who are most at risk mix with motorized traffic.  

More information about the Advocacy Hub is available here.