(Source: http://lenta.ru/news/2014/08/19/skorost)

The capital Mayor Sergei Sobyanin canceled the previously announced speed limit in the city centre.

The Centre for Traffic Organization planned to reduce the permitted speed for vehicles from 60 to 40 km/h for the sake of pedestrians’ safety in the area of the Bul’varnoe Ring already this winter. At the same time the Mayor referred to the opinions of 74 thousand residents of Moscow participating in the poll who opposed the initiative.

The project on the change of the speed limit in the area of the Bul’varnoe Ring was discussed at a meeting of the Presidium of the Moscow city government yesterday. “I think, considering the opinions of citizens, it is necessary to continue the discussion and not to take any decisions so far” - the Moscow Mayor Sobyanin said. The proposal to change speed limits was taken by the SPI “Centre for Traffic Organization” (CTO; subordinate to the Department of Transport). It was proposed to reduce the speed limit in the area of the Bul’varnoe Ring from 60 to 40 km/h, like in European capitals.

CTO representatives explained that it was necessary for the pedestrians’ safety. It was planned that the speed limit will be changed at the beginning of 2015. The decision was to be taken after the results of voting in the “Active Citizen” electronic referendum (held from July 22 to August 14).

The voting system with the use of a smartphone app was launched in May 2014: the representatives of the Mayor’s Office promised to take into account the results of the poll when making decisions. According to Sergei Sobyanin, 139 thousand people took part in this poll dedicated to speed limit. 53.2% of them voted against the speed limit (i.e. 74 thousand citizens), 27.5% of respondents supported the speed limitation, 19.2% believe that the issue “should be solved by experts”.