Welcome
Tuesday, 02, Dec 2008 05:09
Most people want to live a quiet street where their children are able to walk and play without fear of high speed passing traffic. This is the norm throughout Northern Europe where the speed limit in residential and urban streets is 30 kph (18.5 mph) or less.
Such a speed limits shifts the priority of the street from being a road for the fast passage of motor vehicles to being a street in which people and cars can share the space safely and in harmony whether they are walking, cycling, driving or merely standing on the pavement chatting.
Recent surveys show that in excees of 80% of people interviewed want a 20 mph speed limit on the streets where they live and the Audit Commission found that 75% of drivers believe that 20 mph is an appropriate maximum speed for residential roads.
Recent changes in government guidelines on Setting Local Speed Limits have given local authorities far more flexibility in determining local speed limits which take into account the needs of vulnerable road users and also what communities think is appropriate (DfT Circular 01/2006). These both recommend and enable 20 mph speed limits to be implemented without the necessity for speed bumps or physical measures.
Some towns, such as Hull have been early adopters of 20mph limits and have seen reductions of 60% in accident rates with very little effect of traffic flows or journey times. In fact, by maintaining 30 mph on arterial roads, most urban journies will be increased by a matter of seconds through the adoption of 20mph speed limits in residential streets. Portsmouth has been the first Local Authority to take real advantage of the ability to implement a default 20mph speed limit throughout the whole town on non-arterial roads using the latest government guidelines.
20 mph in residential streets provides a real increase in quality of life for residents with less noise, slower traffic, a more peaceful evironment and the ability for children to walk or cycle to school.
However, local authorities have been slow to take advantage of the new guidlines. This is through both ignorance of the new guidelines and also the changing public attitudes regarding what is felt to be an appropriate speed where people live.
20's Plenty For Us campaigns to implement 20mph as the default speed limit wherever communities want it. It provides information, reference material and the arguments for local campaigners to influence their local councillors to take the opportunities within the government guidelines and get a better environment for their children and families.