> If people and politicians do want to reduce road speeds to improve safety, or make cities more pedestrian friendly, Megge says “there are a lot of other thing

> If people and politicians do want to reduce road speeds to improve safety, or make cities more pedestrian friendly, Megge says “there are a lot of other things you can do from an engineering standpoint.” Cities can reduce the number of lanes, change the parking situation, create wider bike paths, and so on. It’s more expensive, but unlike changing the number on a sign, it’s effective. This paragraph is really key. You want to design the road and the area around it to encourage an appropriate speed, and then set the speed limit at that speed (which should work out to the 85th percentile of what people would drive anyway). IMO most freeways, at least where I'm from, should have higher speed limits (and are already designed to support them). Some residential streets should probably have lower ones, but would need design changes to encourage people to actually drive at an appropriate speed.