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Average speed cameras switched on between Amsterdam and Utrecht

The first ‘average speed’ cameras in the Netherlands have been switched on amid an ongoing dispute about what the speed limit on the A2 should be.

The cameras, which record drivers' speed over several kilometres rather than at a single flashpoint, cover the stretch of motorway between Amsterdam and Utrecht. The ten-lane road is one of the country’s busiest and currently has a limit of 100 km/h.

Infrastructure minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen wants to raise the limit to 130 km/h between 7pm and 6am and will submit a plan to Parliament in the next two weeks.

“I can see why people see a wide road ahead of them with nobody driving on it and struggle to understand why there is a limit of 100 km per hour,” she told Radio 1 last week.

Raising the speed limit on the 25 kilometres of the A2 between Amsterdam and Utrecht would cut three and a half minutes from journey times if traffic was flowing freely.

But with 10,000 people living alongside the ten-lane motorway, local campaign groups say there will be an unacceptable increase in noise and emissions.

“They have the right to clean air, which is why the speed limit was restricted to 100 km/h when the road was widened,” said Pieter de Groene, a member of the local council in Stichtse Vecht.

The strict environmental controls on the Dutch motorway network mean that extra screens will have to be put up alongside the road to reduce air and noise pollution before the speed limit can be increased.

The speed cameras will initially be switched on along the 15 kilometres between Maarssen and Holendrecht. The area will be extended to cover the whole stretch from Amsterdam to Utrecht by the end of the year.

The cameras will be adapted if and when there is any change to the speed limit on the A2.

Source: De Volkskrant: Maximumsnelheid op A2 toch naar 130

Photo by Chriszwolle

Read previous story: Roll-out of 130 km/h speed limit hits the skids