Speed limits in school zones to be lowered to 30kph soon, says Zahid

KUALA LUMPUR: Speed limits in school zones will be lowered from 40kph to 30kph soon, says Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

He said that this comes as police statistics have shown that there were 322 cases of road accidents at school zones nationwide last year where the victims were either injured or killed.

Ahmad Zahid said today that international research showed that every one kilometre of speed reduction could lower the fatality rate by four to five percent.

He said the study also found that a speed reduction of five percent can decrease fatal accidents by 30%.

Ahmad Zahid - who is the chairman of the Cabinet's committee on road safety and traffic congestion - said this after chairing a meeting with the committee on Monday with Transport Minister Anthony Loke and representatives of other agencies and ministries.

He said it was agreed at the meeting that the speed limit at school zones be lowered to 30kmph.

However, Ahmad Zahid said a working committee will have to be formed to decide on the timing and road stretch at the school zones before gazzeting the speed limits.

He said police records also showed that until May this year, 267,013 road crashes were reported and 2,742 people had perished, about two-thirds of them being motorcyclists and pillion riders.