Another call for 20 mph

I wrote this morning to the Local Government Association magazine which goes to all councillors in response to a letter in the magazine re 20 mph - see my letter here. A letter from a councillor responded to the letter below from Professor Whitelegg. The councillor was seeking to justify 30 and 40 mph limits - to my mind there is no justification in our towns and villages.

Photo: 20 mph zone in Springhill, Stroud - a waste of money as I defy anyone to travel faster than 15 mph on that road - instead money should have been spent on slowing traffic elsewhere rather than on making this area ugly with unnecessary signs and road paint.

Letter from Cllr John Whitelegg (Green) Lancaster CC to First magazine: Cllr Warriner (first 360) raised the problem of speeding traffic. Every councillor I have ever spoken to has been concerned about this, especially in the context of schools and children, and yet progress towards a safe road transport system is painfully slow. The UK has a poor record for child pedestrian and cyclist safety, and 2,661 children were killed or seriously injured in 2005. The Parliamentary advisory council on traffic safety recommends a general 20mph speed limit in urban areas: a child hit by a car at this speed has a 95% chance of survival. At 30mph, this falls to 45%, and at 40mph to only 5%. High quality research and science points to the urgent need to adopt a general 20mph limit on every residential road in every urban area. Portsmouth city council has taken the lead on this, and in January a proposal to a joint committee of city and county councillors in Lancashire and Lancaster unanimously adopted a general 20mph limit. This was supported by all political parties. Local government has always taken the lead in adopting policies that bring about a substantial improvement in the quality of life of everyone. We need to send the clearest signal that this is still our core business. I ask every councillor in England and Wales to do whatever needs to be done to establish a general system-wide default speed limit of 20mph.