130 kph speed limit does result in higher traffic accident death rate

Someone dies in 10.4% of accidents on 130 kph roads which have resulted in physical injury, but only 7.5% of accidents on a 120 kph road, the paper said. In roads where the speed limit is 100 kph, just 1.7% of accidents result in a fatality.

The Volkskrant bases its claim on an analysis of police accident reports over the past three years.

The results do not mean that 130 kph roads are necessarily more dangerous but that accidents are more likely to be fatal, the paper said. The figures would appear to support claims made by the road safety research board in 2012 that higher speeds result in more serious injuries.

The transport ministry’s roads department also said in 2011 that higher speed limits on the motorways would result in more deaths, but pressed ahead with the increase ‘if coupled with road safety improvements’.

Some 60% of Dutch motorways now have a 130 kph limit.