Sky-high oil prices, the war in Ukraine and an approaching oil boycott. In addition, a struggle to jointly reduce nitrogen and CO2 emissions. Nevertheless, more than half of the VVD members want the maximum speed to be increased again to 130 kilometers per hour. The average consumption per kilometer will then increase by no less than a quarter.
The higher fuel consumption per kilometer is mainly due to the higher air resistance at higher speeds, professor of transport policy Bert van Wee of TU Delft told NU.nl. “But the effect is even greater because we can cover more kilometers in the same time. Research shows that we lose any time saved from higher speeds against driving longer distances.”
“In addition, our driving behavior is changing,” says Van Wee. “For example, for every percent we drive faster, there are 4 percent more fatal accidents.”
This also means that we drive more restlessly, and therefore have to brake and accelerate more often. “That increases the net fuel consumption even further, and with it the emission of polluting substances.”
VVD members step on the brakes of (own) nitrogen policy
In addition to CO2, which causes climate change, this also concerns nitrogen oxides. Together with ammonia from manure, these cause an increasingly thick nitrogen blanket over the Dutch soil, which means that the quality of Dutch nature reserves is now the second-worst in the EU, and we are also violating international agreements.
So nitrogen emissions must be sharply reduced, advised the Remkes Committee two years ago. And last Friday, VVD minister Christianne van der Wal (Nature and Nitrogen) finally presented the cabinet’s nitrogen plan. This plan must ensure that nitrogen emissions fall to such an extent that Dutch nature does not deteriorate further.
But exactly one day after that, her party held its annual members’ congress. And there, nitrogen suddenly turned out to be a divisive issue within the VVD, when local members unexpectedly submitted a motion against cabinet policy. This motion received a narrow majority of the votes.
This also applied to a subsequent motion, in which local VVD politicians called for the maximum speed during the day to be increased from 100 to 130 kilometers per hour, while it had been lowered to 100 to combat nitrogen pollution.
Measurements show environmental benefits of lower speed
Does a higher speed not only mean more fuel consumption, but also more nitrogen emissions? The simple and not very surprising answer is yes. This is also apparent from practical measurements, says a spokesperson on behalf of the Ministry of Infrastructure & Water Management, which is researching this together with TNO and RIVM.
According to that study, the average nitrogen emissions of cars on a highway with a speed limit of 100 kilometers per hour is a quarter lower than on a highway where you are allowed 130. And the CO2 emissions are linked one-to-one with the fuel consumption, so the climate tax per kilometer also increases at higher speeds.
Incidentally, it was also claimed at the VVD conference that RIVM does not measure nitrogen, but only uses models. “A persistent misunderstanding,” says RIVM expert Albert Bleeker. “We do and use a lot of measurements, both of nitrogen precipitation and of the air concentration, in total at about four hundred locations throughout the Netherlands.”
Possible lower speed limit due to approaching oil boycott
Because of the war in Ukraine, there are also voices to further lower the speed limit. If we were to do that throughout Europe, it could significantly reduce fuel consumption, says Van Wee. That way, it can not only reduce our import dependency, but also lower the oil price. It is so high because the demand is higher than the supply.
“If we in the Netherlands do not dare to temporarily go to 80 kilometers per hour, we should consider equalizing the maximum speed during the day and at night, so always a maximum of 100,” says Van Wee. “That too would make a measurable difference in national fuel consumption.”