The Sustainable Safety Programme in the Netherlands aims to reduce the number of injuries by 30% and the number of casualties by 40% in 2020, compared with 2002. To achieve this, the relatively unsafe network of minor rural roads (47,500 km; 250 traffic fatalities) is being dealt with. To this end, the water boards have changed about 4000 km of minor rural roads in connected areas into 60 km/h-zones using speed inhibitors (especially at intersections) and adjusting the division of the carriageway through paintedroad markers. The effect on the traffic safety was researched in 20 sub-areas (with a total road length of 850 km) by comparing a 5-year pre-changeperiod with an average period after change of almost 3.5 years. Additionally, a control study was done on 2100 km of comparable roads with a speed limit of 80 km/h in order to determine if the effects were attributable tothe 60 km/h-zones. The previously expected decline of 10% to 20% in the number of traffic casualties has been achieved: the decline amounts to at least 19% with a statistical chance of 0.95. The decline occurs especially at intersections. The cost effectiveness of a simply design amounts to 11,000 Euro. This is much lower than the originally estimated 18,000 Euro. For the covering abstract see ITRD E139491.
Abstract