Should city speed limits be reduced from 50km/h to 30km/h?

The Road Safety Authority is in favour of reducing speeds from 50km/h to 30km/h in most streets. This reduces braking distances by half, which could prevent accidents and save lives.

Read more: Questions of blame raised following fatal accident in Neudorf

A car's braking distance is calculated by the driver's reaction time plus the actual stopping distance. This is roughly 12.6m when driving 30km/h, but 25m at 50km/h – in good conditions, that is.

At higher speeds, when you drive twice as fast, the braking distance quadruples.

Prof Dr Florian Hertweck, an architect and town planner employed by the University of Luxembourg, explains that there are other benefits for this speed limitation:

"I myself live in Differdange, when you walk your children to school on the narrow pavement and the cars next to you drive at 50km/h, that's unhealthy. That's not compatible, simply because of the air pollution."

"When you cross the border and drive into a French municipality, it's always 30. The same goes for many German municipalities", he says.

Is it time for Luxembourg's towns to implement the same?