As stated by a motion approved by Reykjavík’s Planning and Transportation Council, speed limits throughout Iceland’s capital Reykjavík are set to be lowered, with 50km/h being the maximum limit.
By reducing the maximum speed on roads within the city, with most to roughly 30km/h, it’s predicted that pollution will be reduced by 40 percent, according to a study carried out by Þröstur Þorsteinsson, Professor of Environmental and Resource Science at the University of Iceland, in collaboration with the Icelandic Road Administration (Vegagerðin).
Also, the speed reduction will be promoting traffic safety and prevent serious accidents. The City of Reykjavík explains, “The lower the speed of a vehicle, the easier it is for the driver to prevent an accident because in the time it takes to react to an unexpected event, the faster the speed, the longer the distance traveled. Traffic speed is, therefore, a very important variable in any discussion of traffic safety.”
Mayor of Reykjavík Dagur B. Eggertsson believes that lowering the speed limit will not affect the traffic in the city. “We have been working now on new proposals following a traffic safety plan where we mapped both the results of the 30 kph districts, which has been great, and the result will probably be to expand them,” states Eggertsson.