A traffic-safety experiment conducted by the Danish road directorate, Vejdirektoratet, is proving that increasing the speed limit on certain rural roads has reduced the number of traffic accidents, according to Jyllands-Posten newspaper.

Two out of three traffic fatalities occur on country roads that normally permit speeds of 80 kilometres per hour. But since 2011, Vejdirektoratet has upped the limit to 90 km/hour on some stretches, which has resulted in fewer accidents due to a reduction in the difference between the cars obeying the speed limit and those exceeding it.

“If there is a large difference between speeds,then more people will attempt to overtake, so the more homogeneous we can get the speeds on the two-lane roads, the safer they will become,” Rene Juhl Hollen, a Vejdirektoratet spokesperson, said.

Accident statistics from Danmarks Statistik indicate that two-lane roads are overrepresented in serious accidents, and according to investigations by the accident commission, Havarikommissionen, speed is a contributing factor in half of all fatal accidents - two thirds of which occur on two-lane roads.