The municipality of Rotterdam will reduce the speed limit in the most unsafe streets in built-up areas from 50 to 30 kilometers per hour. The entire city council approved a motion to that effect last night.
Before the summer of 2021, there must be a plan in which municipalities, together with neighborhood councils and residents, look at the streets with the most unsafe situations. These streets will be tackled first, other streets will follow later. Residents can also indicate in an app what they consider the most unsafe places.
But a speed reduction is not that easy to realize, says Patrick Rugebrecht of the Institute for Road Safety Research (SWOV). “It’s not a matter of swapping the signs and you’re done. These roads are designed to drive 50 kilometers. If you only set a limit there, people won’t stick to it. You have to design a road in such a way that people drive 30. So no asphalt, but clinker paving and, for example, thresholds and narrows. “
The road length also plays a role, he says. “A long straight road of a few kilometers does not invite you to drive 30. A municipality should also look at that.”
Fatal accident
After a fatal accident this month on Mathenesserlaan, where a 14-year-old girl died, council members of GroenLinks and PvdA put the motion to reduce the speed limit. Such a motion had already been made, but was withdrawn because there was no majority in favor at the time.
Last year, five cyclists and pedestrians were killed in Rotterdam. Three-quarters of the fatal traffic victims in this city occur in built-up areas on roads where 50 kilometers are driven, according to initiator Jeroen Postma (GroenLinks).
Lowering the speed could bring the figures down considerably, says Rugebrecht: “The driver can brake faster, the risk of serious injury or death is smaller at a lower speed”.
Anti-social driving
In a city like Rotterdam, with a lot of traffic, the measure may cause congestion more quickly, says Rugebrecht. “The city must have sufficient capacity to handle all traffic flows. That is why there will always be roads in the city where you have to drive 50 or maybe even 70.”
According to the Rotterdam PvdA councilor Tak, a maximum speed is no guarantee for the disappearance of antisocial driving behavior in built-up areas. That is why, in addition to the new measure, he wants more enforcement by the police and more speed cameras along the roads.
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