In an effort to continue to improve road safety in Amsterdam, the municipality has announced that it would like to work towards lowering the speed limit on a number of roads in the city from 50 kilometres per hour to 30 kilometres per hour.
“We know from research that many Amsterdammers feel unsafe in traffic,” the municipality wrote in a statement. “That's why we need to do something that can really improve road safety.” While much has been done in an attempt to improve road safety in the Dutch capital, last year an average of 15 traffic accidents occurred each week in Amsterdam alone, causing an average of one death every month.
“Speed plays a major role in serious accidents on our roads,” the municipality says. Therefore, the speed limit on almost half of the 50 kilometres per hour roads in the city will be lowered to 30 kilometres per hour by 2023. It’s believed this change could reduce the number of serious traffic accidents by up to 30 percent.
The new plan would also reduce the amount of noise pollution in the city, and traffic alderman Egbert de Vries believes it could also reduce the amount of traffic in the city centre, as people opt to cycle or take public transport instead of drive. De Vries’ plans outline a handful of exceptions to the rule change; for example, dual carriageways and roads that have a “traffic image that fits 50 kilometres per hour” will not see the speed limit lowered.
Rotterdam and Groningen also plan to lower speed limits for inner-city roads. Meanwhile, the Road Safety Research Foundation (SWOV) is calling for speed limits to be lowered from 30 kilometres per hour to just 15 kilometres per hour on roads where there is no pavement, in order to protect the safety of pedestrians.