The project “Bologna City 30” has proven, in its first year of implementation, to be a winning model for road safety and sustainable mobility. The initiative, which started in January 2024, introduced a 30 km/h speed limit as standard in several urban areas, maintaining the 50 km/h limit only on main roads.
And the results are visible as there has been a significant reduction in accidents and road victims. For the first time since 1991, a historic achievement for the city. Overall road accidents are decreased by 13%, with a reduction in serious accidents of 31%.
Injured people dropped by 11%, while fatalities dropped they fell by 49%going from an average of 19.5 in previous years to just 10 in 2024. This result is even more significant when compared to the 7.9% increase in urban road fatalities nationwide.
Among the main causes of accidents, speeding it was the most frequent, responsible for 40.3% of cases. Other causes include failure to yield the right of way and risky maneuvers. The “Go slow, save a life” campaign has had a positive impact, raising awareness among citizens of the importance of respecting speed limits.
Large increase in the use of alternative mobility
Excellent news also from the point of view of alternative mobility which has seen a notable increase. The bike sharing recorded a 69% increase in use, exceeding 3 million trips, while car sharing grew by 44%.
The Metropolitan Rail Service (SFM) also saw a 31% increase in travel in the urban area. In parallel private traffic decreased by 5%contributing to a significant reduction in air pollution, with nitrogen dioxide levels dropping by 29%.
The analysis of the Local Police highlighted a 16% drop in pedestrian accidents and a 16.15% reduction in accidents on major radial roads. Excessive speed was the most common violation, followed by failure to yield the right of way and improper use of a cell phone while driving.
The improvement of air qualitytogether with the reduction of accidents, demonstrates how the project has had a positive impact on both road safety and the environment. The “Bologna Città 30” initiative therefore marked an important step forward towards a city safer and more sustainableconfirming the effectiveness of mobility policies oriented towards safety and ecology. Now we just have to wait for other cities to follow his example.
