Experiments with (Dynamic) Speed Limit 130 km/h in The Netherlands

The Dutch cabinet decided in their coalition agreement to increase the maximum speed limit of the Dutch freeways to 130 km/h. Before implementing a new (dynamic) speed limit a project was carried out on eight routes (experiments). This experiment (300 kilometers) was organized to gain more insight in the effects of the (dynamic) speed limit of 130 km/h on the traffic flow, traffic safety, environment, driver acceptance and the exceeding of speed limits. The experiments were carried out between March and June 2011. In April 2011 the monitoring and evaluation of the experiments started. It ended in December 2011 while the experiment still continues. This paper gives an overview of the used methods and key results of the evaluation. A few results: it turns out that on freeways with two lanes the average speed for cars increased with 2 - 3 km/h and the difference in speed between of the vehicles increased with 0,5-2,5 km/h. All results are quite uniform and reliable. They demonstrate that dynamic speed limits can be applied to achieve various policy objectives, such as improving travel times. The evaluation results of the experiments were reported to the Ministry of Transport in The Netherlands in November 2011.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Abstract reprinted with permission from Intelligent Transportation Society of America.
• Corporate Authors:

  ITS America

  1100 17th Street, NW, 12th Floor
  Washington, DC  United States  20036
• Authors:
  • Loot, Martijn
  • van Engelenburg, Bert
  • van Veluwen, Arnold
• Conference:
  • 19th ITS World Congress
  • Location: Vienna , Austria
  • Date: 2012-10-22 to 2012-10-26
• Publication Date: 2012

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Appendices; CD-ROM; Figures; Maps;
• Pagination: 7p
• Monograph Title: 19th ITS World Congress, Vienna, Austria, 22 to 26 October 2012

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Experiments; Speed limits; Traffic flow; Traffic safety; Traffic surveillance; Travel time; Two lane highways
• Geographic Terms: Netherlands
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01494343
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 25 2013 10:41AM