Overwhelming public support for 20mph limits was revealed today by road safety charity Brake and Allianz Insurance, whose survey shows eight in 10 people (78%) think 20mph should be the norm around schools, on residential streets, and in village, town and city centres. The news comes as Brake takes its GO 20 campaign for safe, active, happy communities to parliament, calling on politicians to support the introduction of 20mph as the default urban speed limit.
The Brake and Allianz Insurance survey also found:
Seven in 10 (72%) say roads in their town or village need to be made safer for walking and cycling;
Eight in 10 (81%) say traffic travels too fast on some (51%) or most (30%) of their local roads;
Eight in 10 (79%) think it would encourage more people to walk or cycle if roads and routes in their town or village were made safer.
As well as calling on national government to change the default urban limit to 20mph, Brake continues to encourage and support local authorities to GO 20 through implementing widespread 20 limits across cities, towns and villages. Drivers can also help protect people on foot and bike right away, by slowing down to 20mph around homes, schools and shops, even where the limit is still 30mph.
Brake is urging members of the public to write to their MP to support the GO 20 campaign and Pledge to GO 20 themselves. Tweet your support: @Brakecharity, hashtag #GO20.
Julie Townsend, deputy chief executive, Brake, said: “The GO 20 campaign is about defending everyone’s right to walk and cycle freely without being endangered, whether it’s to get to work, school, the shops, or just getting out and being active. We need to tackle the senseless and violent casualties that continue to happen daily on our roads, and we need to enable people to live healthy, active, social lives. It’s clear that 20mph limits in communities can help bring this about – and it’s clear this is what people want. That’s why so many local authorities are making the switch from 30mph to 20mph. With many people already reaping the benefits of living in 20mph areas, we’re reaching a point where it makes no sense to retain 30mph as the default limit in built-up areas. It’s time for the government to GO 20 nationally, to save councils money and help create safe, active, happy communities nationwide.”
Jon Dye, chief executive, Allianz Insurance, said: “Public opinion is overwhelmingly in favour of reducing the urban speed limit to 20mph and this should act as a powerful force for change. The government’s own report states that approximately half of pedestrian fatalities occur at 30mph impact speed or below, and that even small reductions in impact speed can have a large effect on the risk of fatal injury.
“Allianz is committed to improving road safety across the world and is currently involved in a variety of initiatives in 31 countries across the globe. Allianz is the only global company with its own research centre for automotive analysis and testing. The Allianz Centre for Technology has conducted research on a variety of road safety issues and campaigned on a variety of related topics. Allianz is also a proud supporter of the UN’s ‘Decade of Road Safety 2011 – 2020′ initiative.”
What do you make of this idea and the locations where the 20 mile per hour limit is being promoted? Surely better driver education would be of benefit to everyone including more vulnerable road users? After all, hazard perception is still a hugely important skill even at lower speeds.
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