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Here in Oslo, Norway they've introduced an "environmental speed limit" during winter. The stated reason is to reduce air particulates, as Oslo is prone to very
by magicalhippo 2mo ago
Here in Oslo, Norway they've introduced an "environmental speed limit" during winter. The stated reason is to reduce air particulates, as Oslo is prone to very poor air quality during winter.
So one of the main roads circling the city gets reduced from the 80 kph (50 mph) it was built for, to 60 kph (37 mph).
Boy does it feel agonizingly slow to drive 60 kph on a road built for 80 kph.
Recent years they've reduced the summer speed to 70 kph (44 mph), so it feels slow all year now.
- seanmcdirmid 2mo agoIs this due to tire wear or are they still setting rules as if ICEs were still dominant? Looking at Gemini, it said it’s mainly due to tire wear because studded tires are common, it makes perfect sense to lower the speed limit for that reason.
- magicalhippo 2mo agoTire wear and surface wear due to studded tires, yes. Most run studless but they're soft, and we often have long periods of mostly dry roads so they wear, especially at the start and end of season when temperatures are relatively high. And a fair few still use studded even though they have to pay a fee, as they have mountain cabins they use during the winter, and the studs wears the road surface. It's coupled with Oslo being mostly surrounded by hills, so we often get inversion layers trapping the cold air, so the particulates aren't blown away by the wind.
- seanmcdirmid 2mo agoYa, that makes sense. Salt Lake City and Denver are the same way (so is Beijing, but it isn’t surrounded by snowy mountains, so studs aren’t really needed).