- I will personally make this a parliamentary issue, says Anders Åkesson (C), MP and Deputy Chairman of Parliament's Traffic Committee.

The purpose of the reduced speed limits is to reduce the number of deaths in traffic. According to the Swedish Transport Administration, a reduction of ten kilometers per hour would reduce mortality in accidents by 40 percent. For a motorist, lowering means that it takes 50 seconds longer to travel a mile.

- It doesn't sound like much when you hear it, but it can be about a few miles you travel a day. If you put together all the minutes over weeks and months, it will soon become hours, and then it can become quite decisive when choosing a place of residence, says Karin Helmersson (C), chair of the Regional Development Board in the Kalmar Region.

Anders Åkesson (C) thinks that a general reduction in speed is the wrong way to go. Instead, the Center Party in Kalmar County wants to see variable speed signs that can adapt to the current traffic situation.

- We want to see a dynamic speed regulation where you can vary the speed based on the intensity of the traffic, the season and the road conditions.

He believes that the speed reductions risk becoming one is a blow in the air because those who commute on the current stretches of road do not see any other change that would motivate them to keep the speed down. According to Anders Åkesson, more would respect the speed limits if variable signs were inserted instead.

- That speed control is respected as the road user understands why it is lowered.

Lennart Andersson is the regional director of the Swedish Transport Administration in Kalmar. When SVT calls, he cites the Riksdag's goal of halving the number of fatalities in 2020 compared with 2010 as a reason for reducing speeds. He also admits that the Swedish Transport Administration is happy to have built the middle rails and other measures to reduce the fatal accidents, but that in the absence of money they choose instead to lower speeds.

- Yes, until we can finance other measures, he says.

Lennart Andersson does not believe that the center parties' proposals for variable speeds would make any major difference to commuters in rural areas.

- The crux with variable speeds is that just during high traffic, you want lower speeds because it is a large flow. At the same time, most people still suffer.

In Blekinge, too, the question of the Swedish Transport Administration's speed reductions has been discussed. The Swedish Transport Administration has there reduced the speed of the E22 between Lösen and Jämjö from 90 kilometers per hour to 80 kilometers per hour, despite the recommendation from Region Blekinge. The Blekinge Region instead recommended a faster rebuild of the current section of the road.

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