The ‘Scottish Government and Scottish Green Party Shared Policy Programme’ published on 1 September 2021 includes the commitment that all appropriate roads in built up areas will have a safer speed limit of 20mph by 2025.
This National Strategy for 20mph speed limits aims to expand 20mph speed limits across Scotland and ensure all appropriate roads in built-up areas have a safer speed limit of 20mph by 2025.
The strategy seeks to introduce a consistency for 20mph speed limits across the country, simplifying speed limits for drivers.
It seeks to reduce perceptions of road danger, encourage people to walk and wheel, and create more pleasant streets and neighbourhoods by providing a more equitable balance between different road users and will contribute to the implementation of the safe system.
Precious little detail on the Highland Council site as to when these speed limits will be officially introduced, but the map is labelled ’20 mph Early Adoption’ so let’s hope it’s in 2023 and not 2025.
As long as it is implemented only in key areas where there is currently speeding through the village of strathpeffer ( curently 30 mph) but some people do not slow down for going through the village.
From my office window I have a perfect view of one of the Vehicle Activated Speed [VASVAS Vehicle activated signs (VAS) are a useful and cost-effective road safety intervention. They light up to warn drivers of hazards or to remind them of the speed limit if they are approaching too fast.] sign that has recently been placed in the village. For my sins I gaze out on it all day long, and although I’ve not done a survey to confirm this, I reckon that a good third of vehicles it clocks heading west are doing in excess of 40 mph when it first detects them, and quite a few of those are still doing in excess of 30 mph as they pass it. My record speed that I’ve seen is 57 mph. That just confirms the statistics I found when I did my own unofficial traffic speed survey back in April of 2021, and which triggered the introduction of the two VAS on the A834 in the village.
It’s quite obvious that the one sited just west of the dangerous corner that leads down to the museum was wrongly placed, despite protestations to the Council before and after it was installed. It’s quite obvious that the majority of drivers ignore the countdown signs to the 30 mph zone as they approach the village from the east, preferring to shoot up the hill as they lift their foot off their accelerator, but still doing speeds in excess of 40 or 50 mph, using the hill to gradually slow them down as they pass the Red House and the blind junction down to the Museum and Peffery Way. This sign should have been more readily heeded if it had been placed shortly after the start of the 30 mph zone, just like the one on the A832 as you come up the hill into Marybank.
I am certain that unless the planned 20 mph zone is rigorously enforced by Police Scotland, it will not make a blind bit of difference to the drivers who continue to flaunt the current 30 mph speed limit through the village and the VAS warnings that urge them to slow down.
Do 20mph speed limits reduce the number of car crashes and casualties?
A new study from Queen’s University Belfast, Edinburgh University, and the University of Cambridge has found that reducing speed limits from 30mph to 20mph has had ‘little impact’ on road safety.
Schemes across the UK and Europe to reduce speed limits in the name of safety have become increasingly popular in recent years, with the primary goal of lowering the number of crashes, casualties and speeding seen on the roads.
According to data from The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, traffic speeds of 30-40mph, the risk of pedestrian death as a result of a collision with a vehicle is 5.5 times more likely than at speeds between 20-30mph.
However, the three year research conducted by the universities in Belfast found that 20mph speed limit rollouts across the city made little difference to safety, but did reduce the volumes of traffic.
The data was collected over 76 streets in the centre of Belfast prior to the introduction of the 20mph rollout, and then one and three years after they were installed.
That information was then compared with data collected from nearby streets where the 20mph are not in place.
Further analysis of the data revealed that when compared with areas that had retained their previous speed limits, the new 20mph limits led to minimal change in short or long-term outcomes for road traffic collisions, casualties, or speeding.
In total, road traffic collisions fell by 3% and 15%, respectively, over the one and three year periods after the policy took effect.
Over the same time frame, casualty rates fell by 16% and 22%, respectively.
However, these reductions were not statistically significant.
The data also showed that the average traffic speed fell by only 0.2mph after the first year. This increased slightly after year three to 0.8mph.
Finally, the only significant decrease in the data was the volume of traffic in the new 20mph limit.
The research found that 166 fewer vehicles per week were observed during the morning rush hour following the introduction of the 20mph speed limits.
Following the release of the data, researchers from the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, said: “Our findings showed that a city centre 20mph intervention had little impact on long-term outcomes including road traffic collisions, casualties and speed, except for a reduction in traffic volume.
“Future 20mph speed limit interventions should consider the fidelity enforcement, context and scale of implementation.”
The researchers stated that their latest findings mirror independent research conducted in Belfast, which found that the general public saw ‘little change in traffic speed following the implementation of the 20mph speed limit’.
RAC road safety spokesman Simon Williams said: “The findings of this study are surprising as they appear to suggest that drivers on 20mph roads in Belfast hardly slowed down at all, despite the lower speed limit, which is at odds with other reports*.
“It seems there is a serious problem with compliance as we would expect that even without enforcement average speeds would drop.
“Consequently, the study may demonstrate a need for councils to find other ways to get drivers to slow down, whether that’s through enforcement or modifying road design with traffic islands, well-designed speed humps or chicanes.
“It’s also important that 20mph limits are used in places where they stand to make the biggest positive impact, such as in built-up areas and in locations where there are large volumes of motorised traffic, cyclists and pedestrians – but clearly that depends on a meaningful drop in overall vehicle speeds.
“Equally, our research shows drivers are less likely to comply with a lower limit if they don’t believe it’s appropriate for the type of road.”
Courtesy of the RAC
Here’s a site that lists some alternative traffic calming measures that might be effective at enforcing the current 30 mph zone, and the planned 20 mph one. The council can erect as many speed signs as they want, but they’ll be a complete waste of time if they’re not enforced in some way.
https://www.trafficchoices.co.uk/traffic-schemes/chicanes.shtml
Is this utter stupidity, ignorance or a combination of the two?
A blanket permanent 20mph speed limit will achieve nothing other than waste our limited council funds. RESPONSIBLE drivers slow down as necessary when there are parked cars, pedestrians or children in the road or nearby, 10mph can sometimes be appropriate for safety.. IRRESPONSIBLE drivers will ignore a permanent 20mph limit. A permanent 20mph limit in circumstances that don’t justify it eg empty streets only serves to make drivers frustrated. They will either ignore the limit or speed up after to make up for lost time.
Keep the limits temporary in areas where it is needed eg outside schools and ONLY when pupils are going in or out for maximum effect.