Traffic safety effects of new speed limits in Sweden

Results show a reduction in fatalities on rural roads with reduced speed limit from 90 to 80 km/h where the number of fatalities decreased by 14 per year, while no significant changes were seen for the seriously injured. On motorways with an increased speed limit to 120 km/h, the number of seriously injured increased by about 15 per year, but no significant changes were seen for the number of deaths. The number of seriously injured increased on all types of motorways, but the worst development was seen for narrow motorways (21.5 m wide). For 2 + 1 roads (a continuous three-lane cross-section with alternating passing lanes and the two directions of travel separated by a median barrier) with decreased speed limit from 110 to 100 km/h, the seriously injured decreased by about 16 per year. As regards the change of mean speeds, a decrease in speed limit with 10 km/h led to a decrease of mean speeds of around 2-3 km/h and an increase of the speed limit with 10 km/h resulted in an increase of mean speed by 3 km/h. In conclusion, the results show that in total about 17 lives per year have been saved on the road network with changed speed limits. For comparison, 397 road users were killed in total during 2008. The number of seriously injured remain in principle unchanged. It should also be noted that the results are obtained for the road network which changed the speed limits during 2008 and 2009, and it is not certain that the results can be generalised to another road network.