Belgium: Flanders road deaths cut 23% after rural road speed limits reduced to 70 km/h

Road deaths and serious injuries dropped by 22.7% on rural roads in the Belgian region of Flanders after speed limits were reduced from 90 km/h to 70 km/h in January 2017. 

According to research presented at ETSC’s Road Safety Performance Index conference in Brussels in June, crashes also reduced by 5.5% (see study – in Dutch). 

The introduction of the new default limit was also uncontroversial, and widely accepted.  This may be because the lower 70 km/h limit was already familiar to drivers in Flanders as it applied to many road sections already.  

France also saw a decline in rural road deaths when it reduced speeds from 90 km/h to 80 km/h in 2018, but the change was followed by widespread protests and vandalism of speed cameras.  The government later allowed authorities to revert back to 90 km/h on some road sections as long as several pre-conditions were met.