EFFECTS OF THE 100/130 KM/H SPEED LIMITS

EFFETS DU "100/130 KM A L'HEURE"

Details are given of a three-year experiment carried out in Switzerland to observe the effects of the introduction of a 100 km/h speed limit outside urban areas and a 130 km/h speed limit on motorways, on safety, road user behaviour, and traffic flow. The methods used in the experiment are described together with the results obtained in three fields: (1) psychology - survey on the attitude of drivers regarding the new legal specifiations and change in their attitude in traffic; survey conducted on motorways to investigate psychophysiological factors, degree of attention and changes in some aspects of the personality of drivers; (2) traffic - survey on selected sections of road in the vicinity of measuring stations as regards speed distribution and time intervals, overtaking, design speed and journey time; (3) accident characteristics - before-and-after study of the number of accidents, number of casualties, severity of injuries, types and rate of accidents. The test results are evaluated and conclusions presented concerning a general or differentiated speed limit, level of limits, optimum staggering of speed limits outside urban areas, on motorways and inside urban zones. The working group concluded that a maximum speed of 100 km/h outside urban areas and 130 km/h on motorways was readily accepted by the public and was an effective method of improving road safety. Since these measures were imposed, the number and severity of accidents have decreased, while the traffic coninued to flow quite freely.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Final Report of the working group "Hundred Miles Per Hour" set up by the "Department Federal de Justice et Police."
• Corporate Authors:

  Federal Department of Justice and Police, Switzerland

  Bundehaus West
  3003 Berne,   Switzerland 
• Publication Date: 1975-12

Language

• French

Media Info

• Features: Photos; Tables;
• Pagination: 368 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Before and after studies; Behavior; Design speed; Drivers; Highway safety; Impacts; Passing; Psychological aspects; Speed limits; Traffic crashes; Traffic flow; Travel time; Urban areas
• ITRD Terms: 1643: Accident; 1661: Accident prevention; 1612: Accident rate; 2208: Adaptation (psychol); 2238: Attention; 2267: Attitude (psychol); 9148: Before and after study; 9001: Behaviour; 643: Capacity (road, footway); 632: Congestion (traffic); 6572: Distribution (stat); 1772: Driver; 5911: Efficiency; 685: Headway; 2051: Human tolerance; 653: Level of service; 2752: Motorway; 1822: Overtaking; 8559: Research report; 328: Rural area; 1623: Severity (accid, injury); 5408: Speed; 624: Speed limit; 8110: Switzerland
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00153907
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: EIDGENOESSISCHES JUSTIZ- UND POLIZEIDEPARTMENT, BERN (SUISSE). ABTEILUNG VERKEHRSREGELUNG
• Report/Paper Numbers: Final Rpt.
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 29 1977 12:00AM