Amsterdam residents ‘happy’ with the new 30km/h speed limit

Published on 14-10-2024 at 14:36

City leaders in Amsterdam say that almost two-thirds of the city’s residents are happy that a default 30km/h speed limit was introduced last year.

The council has been canvassing the views of inhabitants about the average speeds, travel times and general travel experiences over the past six months.

About 60 per cent of residents said they were happy with the new speed limit introduced on around 80 per cent of Amsterdam’s roads from 8 December 2023. This was, not surprisingly, a view heard most from the point of view of non-car users but also with drivers.

Most people say that traffic is quieter and that road safety has improved.And it is this latter point which, of course, translates into safer roads for children and young people to use, particularly when they are walking or cycling to school in a city with a population of over 820,000.

Amsterdam City Council says it is continuing to invest in improving road safety to ensure the city is safe for everyone, with one of the measures aimed at increasing road safety in the areas around schools.

Some respondents said they think that 30km/h is too slow, and that not only do many drivers not obey the rule but nor do scooters and powerful electric bicycles which are capable of going faster than 30km/h.Results of the survey include:

The average speed on the new 30 km/h roads fell by five per cent to around 20 kilometres per hour. This includes acceleration, braking and waiting at traffic lights or zebra crossings.
On the new 30 km/h roads, where there is less braking and more room to manoeuvre, the speed limit dropped by 10 per cent from 40 to 36 kilometres per hour.
On the roads where the speed limit remained at 50 km/h, the average speed fell by four per cent to around 28 km/h.
Travel time during the day have increased by five per cent as a result of the new rules. A 10-minute journey takes about 30 seconds longer.

City leaders say the next step is to continue working on adapting existing line marking on the 30km roads, while also relaunching its ’30 doen we voor elkaar’ (30 for each other)’ campaign. I

Melanie van der Horst, Amsterdam’s Deputy Mayor, said: ”These results back up what we thought would happen: traffic is calmer, but not everyone is sticking to the speed limit yet. Still, a 10 per cent reduction is good news, as every kilometre slower is a gain for road safety.”