City of York Council has begun the roll out of 20mph speed limits in residential areas across the west of the city, using the slogan "slower paces improve our places".
The scheme is the first main phase of the council’s policy to introduce 20mph speed limits in residential areas across the city, in a move to "help promote considerate driving, make walking and cycling more attractive and raise confidence in the safety of local neighbourhoods".
The council has produced a video explaining why it is introducing the new 20mph areas, and says the move is "supported by headteachers in the West of York School’s Partnership".
Signs will be installed over a two-month period on the smaller, residential roads across the west of the city. Schools and businesses in the area will receive information explaining the reasons behind the scheme and how it will impact on them.
Councillor Dave Merrett said: “"With significant reductions of up to 3mph (average speeds) in parts of Fishergate ward as a direct result of introducing a lower speed limit, this should prove to be a beneficial scheme.
“"The introduction of lower speed limits, in accordance with the latest Government guidance, gives drivers more time to react to the presence of other road users, and reduces the likelihood and scale of any potential remaining collisions. We are seeking to increase driver and safety awareness on our roads as part of the roll out."
Inspector Michael Barron of North Yorkshire Police’s Roads Policing Group, said: “"Speeding is one of the major concerns highlighted by members of the public. Not only is inappropriate and excessive speed a cause of deaths and serious injuries, but it can affect people’s quality of life.
“"By reducing the speed limits through residential areas, noise pollution will be reduced and the environment will feel safer for all road users and pedestrians alike, and in the unfortunate event of a collision, the severity of injuries can be reduced."
The signed-only 20mph speed limits are designed to be self-enforcing and are intended to support the many existing traffic calmed 20mph zones that are already in place in many residential streets in the city.
Last week, City of York Council launched its iPledge campaign which is backed by all three emergency services and asks people to sign up to a citywide road safety pledge.
As commented in a previous post where is the empirical evidence that such pledge programmes work to justify public money on such schemes? However, perhaps York have answered the question, judging by the effort put into producing these videos they are not actually spending very much. At least take the effort to do a good job when you put something in the public domain.
Keith
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The videos are useful for any budding sound engineers who might want to learn how not to record speech outdoors – you can barely hear what the speakers are saying for the wind noise!
Hugh Jones, Cheshire
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