Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht have written to parliament and the cabinet calling for a reduction of maximum speeds on most urban roads to 30 kph, the Parool reported on Wednesday.
While almost half of the roads in these cities already have a 30 kilometres per hour limit in place, half are still far from adequate as their roads are getting busier, says
Amsterdam’s traffic chief Egbert de Vries told the AD that 80% of traffic accident victims are injured on roads with a maximum speed limit of 50 kph.
Amsterdam wants to limit the maximum speed in the city on many roads to 30 km/h from 2023, the city reported this week.
The intent is part of the city’s overall efforts to improve safety and quality of life.
In 2020, 610 people died in traffic accidents, including 229 cyclists and 41 pedestrians.
Traffic safety research institute SWOV says cutting the speed limit from 50kph to 30kph would cut this by 20% to 30%. Cabinet intervention is need to change the laws so the lower speed limit can also be imposed on major roads, and to remove the legal requirement to place speed bumps and other traffic calming measures on all 30kph roads reported by
