A remarkable number of accidents occur on roads where the speed limit is 30 kilometers per hour. That is what Rico Andriesse of Adviesbureau Goudappel states. He conducted research into road safety in busy streets in various municipalities where 30 km / h is the limit. “More accidents are happening than we expected in advance.”
It is probably the case that in streets where a lot happens the driving speed is lower, but at the same time more accidents occur due to that busyness, explains Andriesse. About 200 busy streets were examined in the study. These are roads with, for example, people shopping or crossing. Streets were also specifically looked at where the limit was previously adjusted to 30 km / h. “We always say that if it is unsafe, the speed has to be reduced.” Yet the speed does not appear to decrease enough to compensate for the crowds. For example, there are no safe cycle paths on the roads studied. Or there are too few speed bumps.
Many municipalities would like to adjust the speed limit to 30 kilometers per hour in built-up areas. The House of Representatives previously adopted a motion – submitted by GroenLinks and SGP – to take 30 km / h in built-up areas as a starting point. According to Andriesse, in that case more matters than just (car) traffic must be considered, such as the safety of bicycle traffic.