Text file: 8138.txt
author: krepki
downvotes: 13
end consideration date: 2017-03-07
id: '8138'
number comments: 21
number views: 3475
proposal type: Competent authority response
response: "Response from the Ministry of Infrastructure\nROAD SAFETY\nSpeeding is\
  \ still a widespread social problem and one of the main causes of road accidents\
  \ with the worst consequences in Slovenia and other EU Member States.\nIn 2016,\
  \ 17931 road accidents were treated, compared to 17943 in 2015, a decrease of 0.1%.\
  \ These accidents involved 32561 persons, compared to 32725 in 2015, or 0.5% less\
  \ than in 2015.\nDriving speed is an important factor in road safety, which is directly\
  \ related to the severity of a collision and its consequences, and is also linked\
  \ to the risk of being involved in a road accident, as drivers have less time to\
  \ react at high speeds, which in turn leads to a higher number of road accidents.\n\
  In 2016, 42 road users died on Slovenian roads as a result of speeding, out of a\
  \ total of 130 fatalities (32.3% of the total number of road user fatalities in\
  \ 2016), compared to 49 road user fatalities out of a total of 120 fatalities in\
  \ 2015 (40.8% of the total number of road user fatalities in 2015), which means\
  \ that the number of road user fatalities caused by speeding has decreased by 14.3%\
  \ compared to 2015 (32.3% of the total number of road user fatalities in 2016).\n\
  In 2016, 299 out of 850 road users were seriously injured as a result of speeding\
  \ (35.2% of the total number of road users seriously injured in 2016), while in\
  \ 2015, 328 out of 932 road users were seriously injured (35.2% of the total number\
  \ of road users seriously injured in 2015), which means that the number of road\
  \ users seriously injured as a result of speeding decreased by 8.8% compared to\
  \ 2015.\nIn 2016, 1 917 out of 7 7606 road users (25.2% of the total number of road\
  \ users slightly injured in 2016) were lightly injured due to inappropriate or inappropriate\
  \ speed, compared to 1 781 out of 7 778 road users (22.9% of the total number of\
  \ road users slightly injured in 2015), which means that the number of road users\
  \ slightly injured due to inappropriate or inappropriate speed increased by 7.6%\
  \ in comparison to 2015 (7.2% of the total number of road users slightly injured\
  \ in 2016).\n \n TECHNICAL STANDARDS AND OTHER ASPECTS\nTraffic can move very safely\
  \ at speeds of 130 km/h or even higher, if technical standards and the environment\
  \ in which the motorway route is located allow it.\nIn Slovenia, the technical elements\
  \ of roads are determined on the basis of the Road Design Regulation (Official Gazette\
  \ of the Republic of Slovenia No 91/05, 26/06 and 109/10 - ZCes-1).  The Regulation\
  \ sets maximum design speeds for each category of road, and the individual geometric\
  \ and technical elements of the road (horizontal radius of curvature, radius of\
  \ vertical curvature, transverse gradient of the carriageway, width of traffic lanes,\
  \ etc.) are adapted to these. The Regulation also sets out certain other elements\
  \ that are directly related to the design speed. These are for example the minimum\
  \ coefficient of sliding friction, the size of clear berms and clear triangles,\
  \ etc. All these elements are adapted for motorways to the maximum permissible speed\
  \ of 130 km/h set out in the current Road Traffic Rules Act (Official Journal of\
  \ the Republic of Slovenia No 82/13 - Official consolidated text and 68/16).\nThe\
  \ design speed and related elements represent an important barrier to considering\
  \ a possible increase of the maximum speed limit on road sections where minimum\
  \ road elements are used due to spatial and other constraints. On some sections\
  \ where better design and geometric elements are used, speeds higher than 130 km/h\
  \ may be possible in practice, but contrary to the rules.\nThe maximum speed limits\
  \ set by the Road Traffic Rules Act are in line with the speed limits in most European\
  \ countries. The only exceptions are Germany, where 130 km/h is the recommended\
  \ speed, but which is very often reduced to 120 km/h by variable traffic signals\
  \ (traffic volume and structure, rain, fog, etc.), and Italy, where higher speeds\
  \ are only allowed on six- and multilane motorways, which we do not have here. Spain,\
  \ for reasons of economy, has chosen to reduce the maximum speed limit on motorways\
  \ from 120 km/h to 110 km/h, which is an effective measure in terms of environmental\
  \ protection and road safety.\nIn our assessment, increasing the maximum speed limit\
  \ would not have a positive impact on increasing road capacity and road safety.\
  \ Road capacity decreases with speed due to the safety distance between vehicles.\
  \ Expert literature and practice show that the maximum road permeability is at 80\
  \ km/h, which is the speed to which speed limits are applied in most European countries\
  \ in the event of traffic congestion. From a road safety point of view, however,\
  \ in the event of an accident at such high speeds, the chances of survival for the\
  \ driver and passengers are significantly reduced. This is due not only to the enormous\
  \ forces that are exerted on the driver and passengers in the event of a vehicle\
  \ collision, but also to the road equipment, which is not adapted to such speeds.\n\
  The length of guardrails in front of the danger point or object (poles, overpass\
  \ columns, walls, etc.), the restraint levels of guardrails and crash bellows and\
  \ many other elements are adapted and checked for the current speed limit system.\
  \  However, the way in which the quality and function of these elements are checked\
  \ is laid down in standards adopted by the European Union and applied uniformly\
  \ to all its Member States.\nAlso, the effect on travel speed of a measure to increase\
  \ the speed limit on motorways or parts of motorways from 130 km/h to 150 km/h would,\
  \ in our assessment, be minimal. If we consider the assumption that a driver would\
  \ manage to drive at 150 km/h instead of 130 km/h between Ljubljana and Koper -\
  \ at least on half of the motorway route between these two places (taking into account\
  \ the sections with tunnels and viaducts, the connection areas where drivers are\
  \ able to merge onto the motorway by pulling into the overtaking lane in heavy traffic,\
  \ and the 130 km/h overtaking drivers) - he would arrive in Koper 5 minutes sooner\
  \ than the 130 km/h speed limit of the motorway between these two places.  This\
  \ is not a reason that would justify a significant increase in the cost of the road\
  \ equipment installed and the expected reduction in road safety. For the latter,\
  \ the European Union has adopted an action plan which aims to reduce the number\
  \ of deaths by 50% over the next 10 years. In order to achieve this objective, many\
  \ countries are choosing to reduce the maximum speed limit rather than increase\
  \ it.\n "
response date: 2017-04-03
response due date: null
sent date: 2017-02-06
title: motorway limit 130km/h and 150km/h
upvotes: 20
url: https://predlagam.vladi.si/predlog/8138
