In the Netherlands, the maximum speed on many highways during the day has been reduced to 100 kilometers per hour. You can only drive 130 between 7 pm and 6 in the morning. And the speed has also been reduced to 100 kilometers per hour on the Brussels Ring.
In the Czech Republic people experiment with a reverse movement. A pilot project will soon start there where the speed is increased by 20 kilometers per hour. Up to 150 kilometers per hour. The first variable traffic signs have already been installed on the Dálnice 3 from Prague to Linz in Austria.
This is a piece of highway of 50 kilometers long between Tabor and Budweis. A long straight with a road surface as flat as a billiards cloth. The test drives will start at the end of September according to the road and motorway administration.
Minister De Ridder responds after Depraetere argues for maximum speed of 100 km/h: “There is absolutely not there”
In contrast to us, a general maximum speed of 130 km/h on motorways applies in the Czech Republic. In the weather and in ideal circumstances, if it is not too busy, dynamic signs indicate the new maximum speed: 150. In rainy weather and in winter conditions, for example, the maximum speed is reduced again by 20 kilometers per hour.
The Czech Republic invests 2.2 million euros in 42 variable traffic signs. The highway manager wants to further increase the speed limit to 150 km/h on the A1 motorway to Ostrava and the A11 at Hradec Králové.
CO2 emissions
From 2018 to 2020, Austria had already raised the maximum speed on the A1 between Vienna and Salzburg as a test. On the Milk and Oed trajectories, and Haid and Sattledt, the maximum speed was 140 km/h instead of 130 km/h. However, the test was stopped by then Minister of Climate Leonore Gewessler (GroenLinks). Reason: the increased CO₂ emissions.
In the Netherlands, the maximum speed on motorways has been reduced to 100 km/h during the day from 2020. Only from 7 p.m. to 6 p.m. was 130 km/h permitted.
During the day
In April 2025, the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management withdrew this scheme on a number of routes: on the A6 trajectory between Lelystad-Noord and the Ketelbrug, on the A7 between Winschoten junction and the German border and between Stevinsluizen and Lorentzsluizen, a speed of 130 km/h is allowed again during the day.
In our country, 120 kilometers per hour remains the rule on motorways. Although dynamic plates are also increasingly being used. If it is busy on the way to the coast, for example, they can indicate that the maximum speed is reduced.
Increasing the maximum speed to 130 kilometers per hour on motorways has been on the table more often, but without success.