Since May 1988, a speed limit of 120 km/h has been in operation of the Dutch highways. Certain parts have a speed limit of 100 km/h, due to traffic safety and environmental protection reasons. These areas are clearly indicated by road signs. This new policy of driving speed differentiation has been combined with intensive public information campaigns and law enforcement (i.e. police control). This paper deals primarily with the public information campaigns and their contribution to the overall effect of the driving speed policy up till now. The public has been informed widely by three multimedia campaigns in the past two years. The objective of the first campaign was twofold; primarily to increase the knowledge of the new driving speed limits, and to increase the perceived chance of apprehension. Both the second and the third campaign were aimed at changing attitudes, intentions, social norms and behavior of specific target groups. Recently, a specific campaign was held for truck drivers, one of the `hard to reach' groups, who have a speed limit of 80 km/h. The campaigns made use of several media: TV commercials, newspaper advertising, highway billboards (with the slogans `here 100' and `driving too fast costs too much'), leaflets and audiovisual aids (like a special audio cassette for truckdrivers). In order to determine the effectiveness of both the public information campaigns and the increased police control activities, several evaluation studies have been carried out. The conclusions drawn are based on trend analysis of the registered average driving speeds on both the 100 and 120 km/h sections, the reported driving speeds and the `preference' driving speeds. Motives for choosing driving speeds and opinions about the new speed limit policy are also measured periodically. The main conclusion up till now is that the majority of the road users agree both with the social need for speed reduction and with the current speed limits.
Samenvatting