A raft of new 20mph speed limit measures will come into force in and around the City of London’s Square Mile in the coming weeks, but councillors in Dundee have voted narrowly against a signed only 20mph scheme.
In the City of London, all the roads in the Square Mile with a couple of exceptions will be included in the new scheme.
The creation of more area-wide 20mph speed limits was a recommendation of the Mayor’s Roads Task Force, in a bid to improve safety perceptions and encourage pedestrians and cyclists. The City of London Corporation predicts that the new limit will reduce casualties by around 7% which equates to 30 per year.
Michael Welbank, chairman of the Corporation’s Planning & Transportation Committee, said: “A 20mph speed limit is a key part of the our Road Danger Reduction Plan and will help to save lives, reduce casualties and create a safer and calmer environment for all the Square Mile’s many and varied users.
“Whether on foot, in a vehicle or two wheels, we all need to share these streets safely and the 20mph limit will help us to do this, together.”
However, in Dundee a council motion calling for signed-only 20mph speed limits across residential streets was narrowly defeated. According to Local Transport Today (LTT), the motion had the support of Liberal Democrat, Labour, Conservative and Independent councillors, but the council’s ruling SNP administration voted against and the motion was defeated by 14 votes to 13.
According to LTT, Mike Galloway, the council’s director of city development, acknowledged there was “societal pressure” to introduce 20mph across residential areas, but said the council’s policy was to target road safety spending at sites with a record of pedestrian injury accidents.
Mr Galloway said: “There is evidence in the city already that a reduction of speed limit (through signage only) has little impact on overall vehicle speeds.
“Mandatory 20mph limits (through signage only) should not be introduced in Dundee as Police Scotland could not guarantee police enforcement beyond known injury accident locations and, therefore, these limits could quickly fall into disrepute as drivers would ignore the new limits.”
Idris
Can you reference the exact “matter of record” which states that “20mph limits may be installed only where speeds are already of that order”. If it is “all we need to know” then the reference would be useful!
Rod King, 20’s Plenty for Us
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The key point here is that it is a matter of record that as 20mph limits may be installed only where speeds are already of that order, the average change is only 1mph or so. That is all we need to know.
Idris Francis Fight Back With Facts Petersfield
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It is interesting to note that the City of London Corporation sees lower speed limits as key to protecting its 400,000 workers. This intervention therefore also relates to another current article on “Action needed to make occupational road risk a priority”.
City of London Corporation have produced a video which may be seen here :-
http://bit.ly/1q2OoYz
Rod King, 20’s Plenty for Us
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We wait and see….
bob craven Lancs
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