30 km/h (18 m/h) is the new speed limit on the streets of downtown Mérida

Mérida, Yucatán, (June 26, 2021).- “The Mérida City Council has already established the maximum speed in the Historic Center at 30 km / h, because these are areas with a high influx of pedestrians, such as the Plaza Grande, the markets and some parks”, assured René Flores Ayora, a road safety specialist.

So far this year, there have been around 75 deaths from traffic accidents in the State. Before the pandemic, the average number of deaths was 150 people a year.

Flores Ayora specified that the speed reduction program began in the four quadrants of the first square of the city: streets 62, 63, 61, and 60, where the respective marks were painted on the pavement since it is considered that at that speed the motorist can react in time and slow down or reduce the impact to a person in a traffic accident and prevent them from dying.

He stressed that the initiative is global and is supported by the United Nations (UN), the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as by different European agencies that are in favor of road safety and the approach of zero vision.

From 2011 to 2020, he recalled, the decade of action for road safety was established, the objective of which was to reduce the number of deaths from road accidents by 50 percent, but this objective was not achieved. However, world bodies proclaimed the second decade for road safety from 2021-2030 to achieve the goal.

He stressed that streets with low maximum speeds save lives: limiting the speed to 30 km / h where motorized vehicles and pedestrians converge, contributes to making the streets healthy, ecological, and suitable for living together, that is, streets for the lifetime. Worldwide, every 24 seconds a person dies in a traffic accident.

The also coordinator of the Municipal Accident Prevention Committee (Comupramid), explained that 65th Street was also intervened with 56, 54, and 59, which are the main arteries where there is an agglomeration of people.

“Yes, it is being respected, but in the coming weeks we are going to do a monitoring with a radar gun where it tells us how fast the vehicles are going, so the idea is to make drivers aware that at a lower speed everything works out well and with monitoring and ‘stickers’ with information will be distributed to save lives, “he said.

“The important thing is to make citizens aware that slowing down can prevent fatal accidents”, Flores Ayora declared.

He added that drivers should drive their vehicles only when they are in their five senses, respect speed limits, fasten seat belts in the case of cars and wear a certified helmet in the case of motorcyclists.