A wind of change is blowing through the Dutch capital! Starting today, 8 December, most Amsterdam streets will operate with a reduced speed limit of 30 kilometres per hour.
The goal of this city-wide “mega intervention”? To reduce the number of accidents and increase overall road safety, AT5.nl writes. 🚘
A much needed change
According to new numbers reported by the Amsterdam ambulance service, the Dutch capital saw a whopping 4,800 accidents in 2022.
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That’s four times as many as had previously been indicated by the polite (police), writes Het Parool.
In total, Amsterdam saw 15 people die as a consequence of traffic accidents in 2022.
So, although a reduction of the city-wide speed limit may seem annoying at first — it’s necessary.
No more traffic fatalities by 2050
According to research, the new speed limit of 30 km/h will decrease the risk of accidents by up to 30%. The accidents that do still occur will be much less serious — and less deadly.
With this new measure, Amsterdam’s goal is to get the number of traffic fatalities down to zero by 2050.
What do you think of Amsterdam’s new inner-city speed limit? Share your thoughts in the comments!
I think it’s horrible – if the goal is safety, then enforcing the existing laws (like actually stopping at red lights) would go further.
Speed doesn’t kill, it’s bad driving and inattention to surroundings that contribute more (gotta love cyclists with headphones who can’t hear cars or forget about the e-bikes whizzing by at faster than 30 km/h or who take a wide turn onto major roads without looking at cross traffic or even slowing down). If it was really about safety, most of the world adopts mandatory helmets for cyclists… that would cut down on injuries as well.
So do I think dropping the speed limit down to 30 is a good measure? No because it doesn’t address the root cause of the issue. A car driving 30 hitting a cyclist not wearing a helmet who just ran a red light doesn’t bode well for the cyclist’s skull.