Zugdidi City Municipality (Georgia) set 30km/h speed limit around school zones

Image credit: EASST

Original article published by EASST here

Municipal authorities in the Georgian region of Zugdidi are in the process of setting 30km/h speed limits around all school zones in the municipality.

40 school zones in Zugdidi city have already had new road signs installed and 30km/h speed zones established. The final two city schools, which are undergoing more extensive upgrades as part of our work with the FIA, FIA Foundation, and Star Ratings for Schools, will have speed reductions implemented before the end of the year.

A further 15 schools in villages outside the city limits will also see 30km/h speed zones installed by January.

These speed reductions follow an advocacy campaign implemented by Partnership for Road Safety (PfRS) who, with the support of EASST and the FIA Foundation Advocacy Hub, have been calling for 30km/h school speed zones to be implemented across three municipalities in Georgia: Zugdidi, Tbilisi, and Rustavi.

In Georgia, urban speed limits are set at the municipal level. Current legislation sets speed limits at 40km/h. However, high speed tolerances and a high level of speeding mean the operational speed of vehicles around schools is often much higher. In 2020, 20 children under the age of 16 were killed in road crashes in Georgia.

The changes in Zugdidi mark a milestone moment. It is the first municipality in the country to implement such widespread change and we hope it will serve as an example to other municipalities across the country.