F. Eren
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In the Netherlands, motorway speed limits are often treated as technical traffic measure that developed from a technical traffic-management issue into a recurring political and societal debate shaped by competing public values. This thesis shows that motorway speed limits are also a politically and publicly contested policy issue. This thesis examines how Dutch newspaper discourse framed proposals to raise motorway speed limits and which arguments were emphasized across key moments of political and institutional change. The central question of this thesis is How do Dutch media discourses frame proposals to raise motorway speed limits and what arguments are emphasized in this public debate?
Within this study a qualitative framing analysis was conducted on 43 newspaper articles published between 2010 and 2025 in five major Dutch newspapers: de Volkskrant, AD, NRC, Trouw and de Telegraaf. The focus of the analysis is on four key events in the Dutch speed limit debate: the political decision and rollout of 130 km/h, the 2019 Council of State Programma Aanpak Stikstof (PAS) ruling, the cabinet decision and implementation of the daytime 100 km/h limit and later political signals regarding a partial return to 130 km/h. The codebook consists of six value categories: safety, sustainability, mobility, legitimacy, autonomy and justice.
The findings show that media framing of motorway speed limits varied substantially over time. it was not through one stable rationale but markedly across events. The introduction of 130 km/h was framed through a broad and politicized constellation of values. After the 2019 PAS ruling, the debate narrowed sharply around sustainability and legal constraint. In the following phase, surrounding the daytime 100 km/h measure, the discourse became more pragmatic and centered on trade-offs involving feasibility, housing and infrastructure. In the last phase, the debate became broader under more constrained conditions by combining arguments related to freedom with questions on feasibility, safety, mobility and sustainability.
Overall, this thesis argues that speed-limit policy on the motorways and its legitimacy is continuously renegotiated through changing constellations of values shaped by political and institutional context. Challenging technical research on speed limits is not the contribution of this study. But the contribution is to complement it by showing how media discourse construct the public meaning and legitimacy of a policy issue that is often approached as primarily technical or administrative. It adds a media-framing and legitimacy perspective to transport policy which makes it important for research and it also matters for practice because it suggests that policymakers cannot rely on technical evidence alone to secure stable support for transport measures. ...
In the Netherlands, motorway speed limits are often treated as technical traffic measure that developed from a technical traffic-management issue into a recurring political and societal debate shaped by competing public values. This thesis shows that motorway speed limits are also a politically and publicly contested policy issue. This thesis examines how Dutch newspaper discourse framed proposals to raise motorway speed limits and which arguments were emphasized across key moments of political and institutional change. The central question of this thesis is How do Dutch media discourses frame proposals to raise motorway speed limits and what arguments are emphasized in this public debate?
Within this study a qualitative framing analysis was conducted on 43 newspaper articles published between 2010 and 2025 in five major Dutch newspapers: de Volkskrant, AD, NRC, Trouw and de Telegraaf. The focus of the analysis is on four key events in the Dutch speed limit debate: the political decision and rollout of 130 km/h, the 2019 Council of State Programma Aanpak Stikstof (PAS) ruling, the cabinet decision and implementation of the daytime 100 km/h limit and later political signals regarding a partial return to 130 km/h. The codebook consists of six value categories: safety, sustainability, mobility, legitimacy, autonomy and justice.
The findings show that media framing of motorway speed limits varied substantially over time. it was not through one stable rationale but markedly across events. The introduction of 130 km/h was framed through a broad and politicized constellation of values. After the 2019 PAS ruling, the debate narrowed sharply around sustainability and legal constraint. In the following phase, surrounding the daytime 100 km/h measure, the discourse became more pragmatic and centered on trade-offs involving feasibility, housing and infrastructure. In the last phase, the debate became broader under more constrained conditions by combining arguments related to freedom with questions on feasibility, safety, mobility and sustainability.
Overall, this thesis argues that speed-limit policy on the motorways and its legitimacy is continuously renegotiated through changing constellations of values shaped by political and institutional context. Challenging technical research on speed limits is not the contribution of this study. But the contribution is to complement it by showing how media discourse construct the public meaning and legitimacy of a policy issue that is often approached as primarily technical or administrative. It adds a media-framing and legitimacy perspective to transport policy which makes it important for research and it also matters for practice because it suggests that policymakers cannot rely on technical evidence alone to secure stable support for transport measures.