[raybb]

That's absolutely horrifying...

Relatively small increases in speed dramatically increase the stopping distance and as such the danger of driving. Especially with a huge truck like that. That's why Amsterdam (with much more food traffic) has recently reduced speed limits a lot.

> At 30km/h, the stopping distance of a car is 13 metres. At 50km/h it’s more than double at 27 metres. That 20km/h reduction is the crucial difference between a pedestrian or cyclist surviving the impact of an accident – at 30km/h it’s estimated that 95 per cent of pedestrians would emerge relatively unscathed.

https://www.intertraffic.com/news/road-safety/amsterdam-30-s...

[strongpigeon]

What you're saying is all true, but typically road design influence driving speed more than anything. Changing speed limits rarely has an impact on that (at least in the US).

[rapnie]

Not sure, but I think that in the Netherlands a municipality is not allowed to slap some 30kmh road signs along a roadway and call it a day. If the street does not 'communicate' that it is designed for that velocity, i.e. it is too broad, too many car lanes, then it must be adapted first to slow down traffic. There are a number of interesting design guidelines and manuals on the web, like CROW [0] for bicycle traffic, applied across the Netherlands.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CROW_Design_Manual_for_Bicycle...

[IshKebab]

That's how it should work but the UK definitely doesn't do that. I don't think the US does either.

[tedd4u]

One thing that may also help: an Amsterdam local told me that virtually all drivers there (and their parents/kids) are cyclists _also_, and so have more empathy for bikes and tend to operate motor vehicles safely them.

[TulliusCicero]

Really you should do both. Otherwise you do end up with roads that feel like you have to go slow but nominally you're allowed to go fast (and some drivers will certainly take that opportunity).