Gísli Marteinn Baldursson, former Reykjavík City Councilman for the Independence Party, has recently come out in favour of reducing the speed limit on certain roads in the capital area.
This goes against what the Independence Party currently wants, as they have been opposing the speed limit changes.
Gísli has pointed out in a Twitter thread that previous reductions of speed limits in fact decreased traffic in the areas.
Þegar Hofsvallagötu var breytt til að minnka hraðakstur og auka öryggi og mannlíf var bílaumferð talin nákvæmlega fyrir og eftir. Talið var á 7 stöðum (merktir hér með rauðu). Niðurstaðan var sú að bílaumferð MINNKAÐI allsstaðar eftir breytingarnar nema á Birkimel/Hringbraut.2/9 pic.twitter.com/dd7mM35QJa
— Gísli Marteinn (@gislimarteinn) April 20, 2021
In the tweets, Gísli states that when the speed limit was changed on Hofsvallagata, traffic was counted before and after the changes were made.
They found that traffic was reduced when the speed limits were reduced.
Gísli even took a jab at Bjarni Benediktsson, chairman of the Independence Party, by tweeting at him asking why the party is against reducing the speed limits when it has been so successful in this area.
Óumdeilt er að bílaumferð á Hofsvallagötu minnkaði við breytingar og lækkun hraða. Sem er fagnaðarefni! Gatan er öruggari og betri. Íbúar ánægðari. 3 fyrirtæki spruttu upp við götuna, fólk situr úti í bjór og kaffi. Af hverju er XD á móti þessu @Bjarni_Ben @thordiskolbrun? 5/9
— Gísli Marteinn (@gislimarteinn) April 20, 2021
Gísli closes out the thread stating: “It remains that the Independence Party wants faster driving with more pollution on streets and uses deception to support that bad cause. We do not want speeding through our neighbourhoods and we do not want pollution. And not fake news.”
Note: Due to the effect the Coronavirus is having on tourism in Iceland, it’s become increasingly difficult for the Grapevine to survive. If you enjoy our content and want to help the Grapevine’s journalists do things like eat and pay rent, please consider joining our High Five Club.
You can also check out our shop, loaded with books, apparel and other cool merch, that you can buy and have delivered right to your door.
Also you can get regular news from Iceland—including the latest notifications on eruptions, as soon as they happen—by signing up to our newsletter.
Buy subscriptions, t-shirts and more from our shop right here!
