Exactly a year ago, the switch from 130 km / h to 100 km / h as the maximum speed was completed. Then the speed on highways went down of course, but we are driving a little slower now than then.
On March 16, 2020, exactly a year ago, Rijkswaterstaat completed the signaling to 100 km / h on the motorways and the new maximum speed was a fact everywhere. Flitsmeister has looked at how high the average speed was on a few routes after this and came to the conclusion that we are sticking to it quite well and have even slowed down a bit since then. On the A2 Vianen-Den Bosch, the average speed dropped from 106 km / h in March and April last year to 104 km / h now. The average speed also decreased on three of the four other measurement routes: on the A27 Utrecht junction Eemnes from 107 to 105 km / h, on the A28 Groningen-Assen it remained 105 km / h, on the A12 De Meern-The Hague the average speed dropped from 104 to 103 km / h and on the A4 Leimuiden-Schiphol the speed went from 99 to 93 km / h.
“You get used to a maximum of 100 kilometers per hour,” concludes director Jorn de Vries of Flitsmeister. The assumption that after a while there would be faster driving has certainly not materialized. “The decreases are minimal, but we were also surprised. The Dutch are an obedient people on the highway. There is now more traffic on the road again – but definitely not in the amounts before corona – perhaps that explains the few miles difference. The speeds are all slightly above 100, so we are still pushing the limit. ”
The perception that, since the introduction of 100 km / h as the maximum speed, more people are driving faster than the maximum speed, according to the figures, is therefore not valid. About 15 percent of motorists actively use the Flitsmeister app. The speed of hundreds of thousands of cars is measured in this way to arrive at the averages. It seems like a lot of cars are driving faster than 100 km / h, but that’s because you see those cars when they overtake you. You will not notice the hundreds of cars in front and behind you, which drive at 100 km / h.
The A12 during curfew
Absence of traffic jams
The fact that the average speed has actually fallen may also be due to the fact that there have been far fewer traffic jams for a long time. That says ANWB spokesman Markus van Tol. “Your travel time is therefore very predictable. If there are traffic jams, you tend to drive faster when you get out to make up for lost time. In any case, it is good news for the environment.” however, that after the crisis, when people hit the road again, we will also see that ‘making up’ for lost time and thus more speed excesses. to get. That’s how people are. We are now a bit used to the circumstances, but when all the signals are green again and everything will be as it was, people will start to behave like that again. “