The speed limit on regional roads should be reduced from 80 kph to 60 kph to slash the fatal accident rate, the road safety organisation VVN says in Thursday’s Telegraaf.

Four in 10 fatal accidents take place on the provincial road network, which accounts for just 6% of the country’s roads, the paper said. Now the VVN is calling on the 12 provincial councils to reduce speed limits and improve road safety.

Many of the regional roads don’t meet current guidelines, and have narrow verges, ditches and lines of trees, VVN spokesman Rob Stomphorst told the paper.

‘If a car is coming straight at you, there is nowhere to swerve and that can be life threatening,’ he said. ‘It would be better if the speed limit was reduced to 60 kph on these types of roads.’

Many Dutch cities, such as Amsterdam, are also reducing speed limits from 50 kph to 30 kph in an effort to cut accidents.

It is up to the provincial councils to decide if speed limits should be reduced. In some places they have cut down trees in an effort to boost the safety of motorists and meet guidelines on obstacle-free verges.

Last year, 578 people died in traffic accidents and the government aims to half this by 2030.