Amsterdam road safety increased after lowering speed limit to 30 km/h
The municipality of Amsterdam is satisfied with the results of reducing the speed limit to 30 kilometers per hour on most roads in the city. The measure has been in effect since December 2023 and now applies to 80 percent of the roads. The city has seen a “strong decrease in accidents on 30 km/h roads.”
On roads where the 30 km/h speed limit was introduced, the number of accidents involving a motor vehicle fell by 11 percent, from 926 in 2023 to 823 in 2024. Accidents between motor vehicles and cyclists and pedestrians decreased by 15 percent. The number of accidents in the city did increase last year, because cyclists had more accidents with each other or one-sided.
Measurements show that not everyone adheres to the new speed limit. In the first year, 63 percent of motorists adhered partly or completely to the new speed limit (up to 35 km/h). Two in ten motorists drove 40 or faster.
According to the municipality, the new speed limit also impacted public transport travel times by less than expected. And emergency services do not need more time to respond.
“We are driving 30 km/h for greater road safety, and we can now see that it works,” said alderman Melanie van der Horst (Traffic and Transport). “It often takes a while for all road users to get used to it: in Brussels, for example, you saw the speed continue to decrease in the first three years. So I find it encouraging that after a year on the roads where 30 km/h was introduced, we already have 11 percent fewer accidents with motor vehicles, while we only started enforcing it after six months.”
