Traffic assoc. reverses opinion; now for 130 km/h

Traffic association Veilig Verkeer Nederland (VVN) changed its mind and is no longer against the increase in highway speed limits to 130 kilometers per hour. According to the VVN, accidents don't happen more often at 130 km/h than they do at 120 km/h. Other traffic association ANWB, on the other hand, is demanding more information about accidents happening at 130 km/h. "We have no major objections anymore" a spokesperson fro VVN said to NU.nl. "Whether you drive 120 or 130, you don't get to your destination much earlier." According to the spokesperson, there are some points that can be improved, including reducing the uncertainty about where you can drive what speeds. But their organization's focus is mostly on road safety on roads in urban areas. On Tuesday morning the VVN's website still showed their old opinion: "The increase in the maximum speed limit to 130 km/h on highways is undesirable from a safety point of view." The speed limit on the Afsluitdijk (A7) was the first to be increased to 130 kilometers per hour, exactly fiver years ago. Now that speed limit applies to 61 percent of Dutch highways. Minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen of Infrastructure and Environment eventually wants the 130 km/h speed limit on 77 percent of the highways. According to the ANWB, even five years after the first speed limit was increased, there is hardly any information about accidents happening at 130 km/h. And that has to change immediately. Without this data, it is impossible to see what effect increasing the speed limit had on road safety. "The accident records leave much to be desired", Ferry Smit of the ANWB said to BNR. "The evaluation can be done much more clearly and carefully so that the effects of a 130 kilometer road can be clear."