Amsterdam to drop city speed limit to 30 km/h on 80% of roadways

Political leaders in Amsterdam announced plans to reduce the speed limit on most roadways from 50 to 30 kilometers per hour. The decision will affect 80 percent of the city's roadways beginning in December 2023. The speed limit reduction should make traffic safer and quieter, the city's executive leaders believe.

The leadership, including the mayor and the coalition party aldermen, previously said they intended to reduce the speed limit, but the first details were released on Friday morning. "We are in a hurry to lower the maximum speed on the roads, because the majority of Amsterdammers feel unsafe in traffic," said Melanie van der Horst, the alderman in charge of traffic and transportation policy. "We are now going to take concrete steps towards the introduction of the 30 km/h roads in December 2023, so that we can really make a big move to make Amsterdam traffic safer."

Some 270 kilometers of roads will be subject to the speed limit cut. Over the next year, traffic lights, markings, and signs on the roads will be adjusted in preparation for the change.

In some areas, the reduction will be brought in gradually, with some roads switched to the lowered speed limit before next December. In combination with a marketing and education campaign, the city aims to prepare Amsterdammers for the change.

By bringing down the speed limit, City Hall expects serious accidents to be more limited due to the slower speeds at the moment of impact. Additionally, the number of accidents should fall by 20 to 30 percent. The political leaders cited figures showing that 800 people in the city are injured and 20 people are killed in traffic annually.

City hall said that that research carried out on behalf of the municipality showed that 67 percent of Amsterdam residents consider traffic to be either unsafe or very unsafe. About 83 percent of residents think higher speeds creates dangerous situations in traffic.