A study was conducted by the Institute of Transport Economics (TOI), Norway on the effects of lowering speed limits on speed and accidents. In 2001, speed limits were lowered from 80 km/h to 70 km/h on 247 hazardous road sections in Norway. On 47 hazardous sections, the speed limit was reduced from 90 km/h to 80 km/h. Accident occurrence was compared with that on roads that retained the original speed limit. Reducing the speed limit from 80 km/h to 70 km/h on hazardous road sections reduced the speed, number of injury accidents and the number of injured road users. The reduction in injured road users was largest for fatalities and critical injuries. The effects of lowering the speed limit from 90 km/h to 80 km/h were less clear, with an apparent but non-significant increase in the number of accidents and number of injured.
Abstract