20’s Plenty welcomes ‘groundswell of support’ for lower speed limits

10.42 | 10 March 2022 | | 4 comments

“It is becoming increasingly clear that the national 30mph limit set nearly 100 years ago is neither wanted nor is fit to serve the needs of 21st century communities.”

That’s the conclusion of campaign group 20’s Plenty For Us, as it closes in on the milestone of 600 local community campaigns.

Already this year, 42 new community campaigns have been set up, taking the current total to 591. This follows a record-breaking last quarter of 2021, when 49 new branches began.

20’s Plenty says as the ‘groundswell of support’ for lower speed limits continues, ‘it is only a matter of time before 20mph is the default speed limit across the UK’.

It once again points to the benefits of 20mph speed limits, which it says are becoming ‘increasingly widely recognised’, such as making it easier and safer for people to choose walking and cycling – and ‘significant reductions’ in air and noise pollution.

Rod King MBE, founder and campaign director for 20’s Plenty, said: “28 million people across the UK live in areas where 20mph speed limits are, or soon will be, the norm.

“There is a growing desire for lower speeds from both rural and urban communities by implementing wide-area 20mph speed limits.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that the national 30mph limit set nearly 100 years ago is neither wanted nor is fit to serve the needs of 21st century communities. Changing it to 20mph on a UK-wide basis is the logical next step.”


 

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    A Fatality is brewing here, time is running out.
    BH24 1DP road in conservation area next to The Bickerley common. The castleman trailway for cyclists, its a beautiful place and its truly shameful that Hampshire County Council spend more on weed control that driver safety.
    We own a property on a 30 limit. We are almost opposite a mini roundabout. Speed should reflect the conditions in every sense. Sadly it seems everyone has their own interpretation of the actual limit.
    We have a great view of the speeding cars, that disregard the roundabout.
    At a rate of knots drivers of articulated lorries, courier vans and tractors appear to fly through. Mostly it is all near misses, horns blaring and the odd verbal abuse being thrown at somebody not going fast enough, hesitate and die that seems a good phrase. We live here and we hear it from 5am thats went its really bad as the less traffic the more they steam on past.
    Its a 30 it is a residential area and sadly the only way to catch, stop or make a change here is to drop the limit.
    There are little warnings for the roundabout that amounts to anything, two exits have no real ability to see far enough to pull out safely and an accident will occur.
    As to the negative comments that are not positive about this, I question that response as its only when you live in a place such as this that it makes you realise how ignorant and stupid it is to drive recklessly. Whenever I do the speed limit all I get is a frustrated driver behind me, making me feel like i’m in the wrong…They say as a race we don’t learn from mistakes, I guess they mean mistakes have to be personal for action to be taken, sadly its always based on someone losing their life.
    (TOO LATE)
    I really hope that the UK can have a 20 in residential areas, or anywhere there is a 30. Time indeed for a re-haul of the whole speed limit system on every level.
    In Ringwood, it is apparent that the car is king as there is not one speed camera and no twenty and no one here doing anything about it either.
    Sara & Ally


    Sara Pengelly, Ringwood
    Agree (3) | Disagree (11)
    --8

    Agree with Hugh. People always seem to want ‘other people’ to slow down but often don’t apply this principle to themselves.


    Becky James, Bradford
    Agree (3) | Disagree (6)
    --3

    If the 30mph limit was deemed safe 100 years ago for motorists driving vehicles with practically no safety devices, unsurfaced roads, maybe never even passed a test, why now do we decide that a lower speed limit is appropriate? Cars have phenomenal safety devices and systems, roads are surfaced and laid out in a safe manner generally, pedestrians are now thought about and made way for….improve the knowledge of drivers and pedestrians and make sure driving examiners are actually decent drivers themselves and have an in depth understanding of our roads and safety standards to make sure the roads are kept safe going forward. Dont lower the speed limit, educate, educate, educate!


    G S, Lincolnshire
    Agree (12) | Disagree (10)
    +2

    There may well be a ‘groundswell of support’ for 20 limits by residents and communities – in principle – however that does not seem to translate to some of them actually complying with said limits when they’re behind the wheel.


    Hugh Jones, Cheshire
    Agree (14) | Disagree (7)
    +7

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