Kazakhstan’s parliament is set to debate reducing the maximum speed limit for motor vehicles in populated areas when deputies return from their summer recess, according to Kaisar Sultanbaev, chairman of the Administrative Police Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
“As for reducing the speed limit in populated areas, we are constantly working on legislation and our regulatory documents. We are currently considering this issue in working order. When our MPs return from their vacation, we will discuss it with them. The issue is in progress, and we will provide additional information about the decisions taken,” Sultanbaev said at a briefing.
Currently, the standard speed limit in populated areas is 60 km/h, with variations in certain zones: 40 km/h near schools and up to 80 km/h on bypass roads within city limits. Sultanbaev did not indicate what the new limit might be.
The Interior Ministry has previously raised similar initiatives. In spring 2024, it proposed reducing the speed of freight vehicles in populated areas to 50 km/h. The Urban Forum Kazakhstan foundation has also suggested lowering limits in Almaty to 30-50 km/h for all vehicles. More recently, in February 2025, the Prosecutor General’s Office proposed cutting the maximum speed on suburban roads from 90 to 60 km/h.
Road safety remains a pressing concern. In the first half of 2025 alone, police recorded more than 3 million speeding violations nationwide. Speeding remains one of the leading causes of fatal crashes: 1,129 traffic accidents in populated areas were attributed to speeding in that period, resulting in 95 deaths. On national and regional highways, 986 similar accidents killed 180 people.
At the same time, Sultanbaev noted that stricter enforcement is helping reduce casualties. Between January and June 2025, traffic accidents left 16,000 people injured, down from 26,000 a year earlier. Road fatalities also fell by 8 percent, from 1,480 to 1,366.
Kazakhstan’s growing vehicle fleet compounds the challenge. Over the past 34 years, the number of registered vehicles has risen from 2 million to 5.5 million.
Earlier this year, The Times of Central Asia reported that senators also proposed introducing a so-called “idiot test”, a psychophysiological assessment for repeat offenders who frequently violate traffic rules, including speed limits.
