By Lynne Smith
Across the country, local authorities one by one are introducing 20mph schemes for residential and urban areas.
In Wokingham, you may have seen local ‘20 is Plenty’ signs outside schools and advisory speed limits.
The safety arguments are clear. The likelihood of severe or fatal injury to a pedestrian hit by a driver at 20 mph is one third of the likelihood at 30 mph. The risk of fatality is 7-10 times lower.
Of course, before we worry about the collision we need to think about avoiding it. Research shows that drivers’ field of vision narrows as speed increases, causing us to miss hazards. People make mistakes, whether drivers, cyclists, children or the elderly, but at lower speeds those mistakes aren’t as serious. A vehicle at 20 mph can stop in half the distance of one at 30 mph.
Fear of traffic, particularly its speed, stops people from walking and cycling and is one of the main reasons people drive so many local journeys.
We need to provide dedicated space for people walking or on bikes or similar, but the space and money to do so is hard to find.
We could, however, reduce speed limits now.
When applied across an area, rather than a single street, 20mph doesn’t require massive investment in road calming.
Not everyone will obey the limit, and the police may not prioritise enforcement, but that’s pretty much the case already. Most people will drive slower, especially so as this becomes the social norm.
And then there’s our environment. Cars may be more efficient at faster speeds, but air and carbon dioxode pollution in urban areas comes mostly from speeding up and braking.
Lower speed limits reduce emissions and some studies also show they also reduce congestion and improve traffic flow.
In the past year, 20 mph zones in residential and / or urban areas have been announced across London, Wales, Cornwall, Oxfordshire and many other areas.
Wokingham is about to consult on our Local Transport Plan and we will be arguing for the same here, not just outside of schools.
We hope you’ll do the same.
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