The 20mph Speed Limit – A new era in British motoring?

Friday, 25 April 2014

The 20mph argument is one of the biggest to occur in the motoring sector for a good couple of years. Today, we’re going to take a look at the different approaches and points of view that are arising as a result.

What’s the dispute?

A number of Britain’s local councils have chosen to implement a 20mph speed limit in built up and residential areas. Whilst various campaigners have welcomed the legislation, many motorists have disputed the need for lower speeds.

This week, the road safety group Brake visited Parliament in order to demonstrate that the 20mph speed limit should be universal across all of Great Britain’s residential areas. (The lower speed limit had actually been tabled by the last Labour government, but was shelved following their defeat in the 2010 general election.)

Why is 20mph the ‘chosen’ speed?

There are a number of different reasons why safety campaigners consider 20mph to be the most appropriate speed limit for residential streets:

More than half of the road deaths and serious injuries that take place on Britain’s streets take place on roads with 30mph limits.
Britain currently has the highest percentage of pedestrian road fatalities in Europe, at 22.5%.
The speed limits on the urban roads of Britain are currently 60% higher than in Europe. (The current European limit is 18.6mph, versus 30mph in the UK).
Lowering urban and residential speed limits to 20mph has been shown to decrease child pedestrian accidents by up to 70%.

For more information about the above and for more info on the 20mph argument, visit https://www.20splenty.org/.

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Who has argued in favour of the speed limit?

According to the latest statistics from Brake, the general public are resolutely behind the move to make 20mph the standard speed. Indeed, nearly eight out of ten members of the public have backed the move, according to a new survey put together by the campaign group. Various members of the public were surveyed, with a number of them viewing speedy drivers as a legitimate menace to their local neighbourhoods.

Those in favour of the lowered speed limit believed that it should be the norm around any areas with residential build-up, including schools, small villages and any town or city centres. More than four in five of those surveyed believed that traffic travelled too fast on local roads, and 72% felt that the roads in their local towns or villages should be made safer.

What are the arguments against?

One of the strongest arguments against the new measure has come from motoring consumer company the AA, who claim that it is wrong to introduce limits ‘by diktat’, and believe that the 20mph limit should only be brought into areas where there is clear public support for the change.

Interestingly, the AA has released its own survey findings. Their results showed that nearly seven out of ten people believed that a local consultation should be carried out before the lower limits were brought in. 31% of those surveyed were strongly in favour of local consultation, with 37% ‘somewhat’ in favour. Only 1 in 20 of those surveyed were in favour of imposing 20mph limits regardless of how local residents felt about the matter.

Speaking on the matter, AA president Edmund King said:

“The message is loud and clear - residents want to be asked first before the speed limit is changed on their streets. It doesn’t mean they will say no to a 20mph speed limit, it means they want a say rather than being issued with a decree that ignores local democracy.”

Enforceable?

The other main criticism of the 20mph law is that it could be tough to enforce. Councillor Val Slater, who is the executive member in charge of transport for the Bradford Council, believes that enforcement of the law will be the main difference between success and failure. She said:

“20mph zones are something that we are looking at on a case-by-case basis. I recognise that especially around schools a reduction in the speed limit does save lives.”

“However, the driving public don’t always accede to the speed limit in these zones.”

Bradford has not introduced any blanket zones as of April 1st, with the council instead planning to evaluate the success of the scheme in Calderdale before making any further moves.

Pete Roberts, representing the Alliance of British Drivers, made a similar argument, saying:

“[…] on through roads [the 20mph zone] is too slow for modern cars and drivers will ignore that limit and begin to lose respect for all speed limits.”

Will it actually work?

As noted above, proper enforcement of the law will play a key factor in any new regulation’s success. However, the figures released by Brake so far are promising. In areas where the limit has already been introduced, there has been a fall in the casualty rates. Portsmouth recorded a substantial 22 per cent dip, and the Camden area of North London has seen an even more drastic fall, with the amount of crashes falling by 54 per cent.

Other areas where the limit is being imposed include the main City of London, Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle upon Tyne and Edinburgh.

In the future

A number of other cities have tabled the idea of introducing 20mph blanket zones, including Nottingham and Glasgow. The Department of Transport have confirmed that whilst the setting of speed limits on local roads was “a matter for local authorities”, the current government had published new guidance that made it “easier” for local councils to introduce the 20mph limits.

From that, it’s easy to deduce that other councils are also planning to implement the new limit.

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