Just over a year ago, on 16 January 2024, Bologna introduced a speed limit of 30 kilometres per hour on most of its urban roads, officially becoming a Città 30. The goal was ambitious: to improve road safety, encourage sustainable mobility and reduce the environmental impact of traffic. Today, twelve months after the start of this transformation, the Emilian capital is drawing up a first assessment — with results that reinforce the decision.

A year of numbers that save lives

The first year of Bologna Città 30 has delivered significant results: for the first time since 1991, no pedestrian has lost their life on the city's roads, and the total number of fatalities has almost halved compared with the average of previous years, falling to ten deaths. The severity of accidents has also dropped noticeably, with a minus 31 per cent in the most serious incidents ("red code") and a minus 13 per cent in total accidents, accompanied by an 11 per cent fall in injuries.

These results become even more significant when compared with the national trend, which is moving in the opposite direction. In the first half of 2024, accidents in Italy increased by 0.9 per cent, according to Istat.

Beyond road safety, Bologna has recorded important progress on the mobility and environment front. Traffic has fallen, with more than 11,000 fewer vehicles every day, while sustainable mobility has boomed: cycling journeys have increased by 10 per cent, bike sharing has seen an incredible plus 69 per cent and car sharing has grown by 44 per cent. The metropolitan rail service (Sfm) has also become an increasingly popular choice, with a 31 per cent increase at urban stations.

On the environmental front, nitrogen dioxide emissions linked to traffic have fallen by 29 per cent. The infrastructure interventions connected to Bologna Città 30 — including new pedestrian squares, cycle lanes and protected crossings — have made Bologna even more liveable and safe, confirming the effectiveness of the Città 30 model.

Other virtuous examples: Bruxelles and Varsavia

Bologna is not an isolated case: other European cities that have adopted the Città 30 model are showing equally positive results, consolidating this approach as a winning strategy for improving safety, mobility and urban quality of life.

In Bruxelles, the introduction of the thirty kilometres per hour limit in January 2021 produced surprising results from the very first year. Road fatalities dropped dramatically and, against all predictions, journey times did not change significantly, demonstrating that slowing down does not necessarily mean congesting traffic.

The benefits do not stop there: the data point to a quieter city, with a clear reduction in noise, and a more liveable one, thanks to the rise in walking and cycling journeys.

Varsavia also stands out as an example of urban transformation. In the 1990s, the Polish capital was among the most dangerous cities in Europe, with 314 road deaths in 1991, its worst year. Today, thanks to the Vision Zero project — the safety strategy first implemented in Sweden in the 1990s, which aims to eliminate all deaths and serious injuries — the city has undergone a remarkable turnaround on road safety.

The measures adopted include narrowing of carriageways, stricter enforcement of speed limits and infrastructure to encourage sustainable mobility, such as protected cycle lanes and more frequent public transport. Currently leading the redesign of Varsavia's streets is Tomasz Tosza, deputy director of the road management department, who has already helped to reduce accidents in the city of Jaworzno.

"The only thing that works in practice is science. If we know that fatal accidents are mainly because of kinetic energy, then it is necessary to make the kinetic energy smaller."👍

More to do but Warsaw making significant progress in reducing road danger through its commitment to Vision Zero.

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— Stephen Frost (@sfrost.bsky.social) 21 November 2024 at 07:59

Tosza underlines that the main problem is speed: "If fatal accidents are caused by kinetic energy, then we must reduce it. The science is clear: we need to act on this point."

Everyone's contribution: comments from the mayor and the associations

According to mayor Matteo Lepore, the first year of Bologna Città 30 has been not only a success in numbers, but also an example of collective collaboration. In a video posted on his Instagram channel, Lepore expressed pride in the results achieved, underlining the commitment shared by the whole community: "I believe we should all be satisfied with this important day, because it tells us that change is possible, that it is possible to save people's lives, and that we must all share in this result. I appeal also to those who have been critical up to now, to those who were opposed: this is everyone's result, it was a civic project and it will continue from now on; a project of engagement with the city."

The association promoting the Bologna 30 campaign also welcomed the results with enthusiasm, while highlighting the need for further commitment. "When four years ago we put forward this project, we seemed like visionaries (…) Today Bologna is a national example," reads the press release. Now, however, it is time to strengthen the project with more incisive interventions — such as speed bumps, protected crossings and lane narrowings — as well as resuming controls on the roads and extending the limit to other areas that are already ready.