Image: Jenoptik
There’s a major change in the thinking behind getting people to stick to 20mph speed limits, according to Jenoptik, with one city in particular turning from engineering solutions to technology.
Jenoptik, a provider of speed camera solutions, has been working with Vision Zero South West to install a series of series of average and spot speed cameras on a network of 20mph roads in Plymouth.
According to Jenoptik, the 20mph limit required enforcement to crack down on so-called boy racers antisocially driving at speed. Residents did not want speed humps on the narrow streets, so the camera solution was chosen instead.
Jenoptik says – unlike speed humps – the cameras enforce the limit without inconveniencing law-abiding drivers, and also are better for the environment because they reduce the number of vehicles slowing down and then speeding up, keeping drivers at a uniform speed.
More than a hundred offences per hour were recorded during the testing period.
Timo Thornton, Jenoptik product manager, said: “SPECS cameras have been used to enforce 20mph limits for many years now, but a lack of awareness and high cost limited their application.
“The latest generation of cameras are not only cost effective, but deliver a host of benefits that residents are crying out for.”
> As far as I’m aware however, they haven’t even started on the digital maps required
There was a consultation with regards to digitising and parsing traffic regulation orders to create a definitive speed limit map, however considering how some TROs are older than 50 years old, some exist only in paper form and and their infinitely variable structure, I suspect the only winners will be digitisers.
David Weston, Newcastle upon Tyne
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…and good news for the residents, pedestrians and cyclists Fraser!
Hugh Jones, Cheshire
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This is really sad news. One wouldn’t mind so much if 20 miles/hr limits were always appropriate to the location, but they’re not. As to “a major change in thinking” it isn’t. It’s just an extension of the “blame the driver” culture. If governments and roads “authorities” were interested in good governance, they’d have facilitated GPS type ISA long before now. As far as I’m aware however, they haven’t even started on the digital maps required. (I exclude London’s buses, of course.)
Good news for Jenoptik, though …
Fraser Andrew, Stirling
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