Call for 20mph speed limit in residential areas and single track roads

Cuffey

Cuffey

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June 2011

EU Transport Committee calls for 20mph speed limits for residential streets

20’s Plenty for Us welcomes the call by the EU Committee on Transport and Tourism for 30km/h (20mph) speed limits in all residential areas.

20mph speed limits for residential areas has come out as the key recommendation of the EU Transport and Tourism Committee on improving road safety in Europe.

The Committee comprises MEPs from a wide range of political parties and countries and is seeking to halve EU road deaths and injuries by 2020. The Committee sets out specific measures to reach this goal and in its press release[1] identifies 20mph limits as key for protecting children :-

Protect Children
MEP’s call for a 30km/h speed limit in all residential roads and on single-lane roads without cycle tracks, to help cut the number of children under 14 years old killed by 60% and those seriously injured by 40%. They also say children should be taught road safety at the youngest possible age.

This comes just days after the UK’s Transport Minister, Norman Baker, announced changes in signage requirements which make it far easier and cheaper for local authorities to implement wide area 20mph limits for cities, towns and villages.

Rod King, Founder and Campaign Director for 20’s Plenty for Us commented:-

“We have been working with MEP’s for some time[2] to show how the 20’s Plenty for Us campaign in the UK is attracting wide political and community support as an effective initiative to reduce danger on our roads and develop the right conditions to make our streets better places to be.

This recommendation is recognition of not only the success of lower speeds in the countries already adopting wide area 30km/h limits and that, as evidenced in the UK, it is possible to “retro-fit” our streets with lower speeds that are accepted by communities and result in reduced casualties.

We now have over 5m people living in towns, villages and counties where the local authority has adopted a Total 20 policy[3].

20 really is Plenty where people live and this new recommendation of best practice from a European perspective reflects the importance of this move towards a safer and more pleasant street environment for us all”
 
I drive at between 20 and 25 through one of our roads in the village, never go above 25, and i feel that is plenty fast anough!
I would say 25 to thirty is plenty fast anough on single track roads as well!
I am all for bringing the speed limit down in rural areas and villages!
 
ffs..... it would take an age to get anywhere!! most of the roads here in Devon are single track roads, bad enough folowing a holiday maker who's going nowhere in a hurry because he is bl00dy sightseeing.....what happend to common sence????
 
Have to agree with horserider :o

Can't see it working in my village. It's a 40mph limit straight off the A1 everyone (inc. the lorries that aren't meant to go through the village) does 60+mph. More time should be spent enforcing current speed limits.
 
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The rode from my house to my field Is 1 mile, single track and through the village it's 30mph the rest 60mph although the maximum really is 40mph as it's a bad road although 20mph! That's just annoying I hate slow drivers as it Is never mind all of us doing 20mph!!

I think they have taken it a little too far
My village used to be 40mph and was already dropped to 30mph
 
Kirsty+Java said:
The rode from my house to my field Is 1 mile, single track and through the village it's 30mph the rest 60mph although the maximum really is 40mph as it's a bad road although 20mph! That's just annoying I hate slow drivers as it Is never mind all of us doing 20mph!!

I think they have taken it a little too far
My village used to be 40mph and was already dropped to 30mph
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I bet you dont mind them slowing down for you when you ride though, eh!

Its about time we all slowed down on the roads, i really dont see the need for so much speed all the time.
If you want speed stick to the moterways, or set off on your journey a bit earlier.
The problem is, technology and cars have got faster , but most of the rural roads have stayed the same for years and years, and the two just dont go together.
 
All the roads round my area are 20 mph and full of speed bumps so we already have this in place - there is a road about a mile long which is used by lots of school children to get to school and its been 20 for years - previously some idiots would take it at ridiculous speeds and one woman was killed when a lorry lost control and hit her and went through a fence - kids have been hurt, its not nice. So the majority of us who don't speed are forced to slow down even more just to curb the lunatics who do 40/50 on these roads and as much as I hate crawling along at 20 I can see the sense in it.
 
When I learnt to drive we had to beep before crawling around a bend on a country road. The first time i sat in the drivers seat of a car my instructor told me that when I started the engine I would be in charge of a weapon that was just as lethal as a gun, it made me think!

I think sometimes we all need a reminder that if we drive around a blind corner at 30mph if there is a child riding their pony who is being naughty in the middle of the road are we able to stop without hurting them.

There is the technology to put speed limiters on cars and speed adjuster controls on the roads. I would just love iit if the courts could insist that any drivers caught going over 15mph above the speed limit could have microchips inserted into them which would cause any vehicle they tried to drive could only be driven at speeds up to 30mph for the next 2 years they would probably start using publc transport which is one less loon on the road.
 
As a driver the thought mortifies me but, as the carer of 4 small children, who also happen to ride, the mother of a teenager, and a rider myself I can't wait for the day. I work from my car and it would take an age to get anywhere but, tbh, what is that compared to a life?

I used to live near a village that had a 20mph in place through it, drivers tended to completely ignore it despite the fact they passed within 20ft of the village school! I have noticed that there are more and more areas with this limit springing up, along with the speed humps, and I suppose it isn't that bad. Whilst drivers happily speed through residential streets they have no thought for the people that live there, it must be infuriating for residents, especially in those streets used as 'rat runs'. So, I am going to support this one!
 
Fii-

I mean sitting behind a driver that drives 20 everywhere
Some drivers sit at 20 round here in every speed limit

Of course they slow down for the horse - everyone does round here seeing as Ruth edge lives in my village and hacks her many hyper horseys past my field and on the same roads it's normal to see a horse - people don't mind
 
Sounds good to me, safer for everyone, plus how many times do you see haresoles racing along too fast, only for you to catch them up at the traffic lights/roundabout/junction, plus another benefit would be less noise, less emmisions less fuel consumption, it's a win win allround, BMW Merc etc may stop building ludicrously sized engined cars, who TF needs 4litres 300hp to carry a briefcase to work :mad: time to wake up and smell the coffee instead of the noxious gasses pumped out uneccesarily everday.
 
hch4971 said:
As a driver the thought mortifies me but, as the carer of 4 small children, who also happen to ride, the mother of a teenager, and a rider myself I can't wait for the day. I work from my car and it would take an age to get anywhere but, tbh, what is that compared to a life?

I used to live near a village that had a 20mph in place through it, drivers tended to completely ignore it despite the fact they passed within 20ft of the village school! I have noticed that there are more and more areas with this limit springing up, along with the speed humps, and I suppose it isn't that bad. Whilst drivers happily speed through residential streets they have no thought for the people that live there, it must be infuriating for residents, especially in those streets used as 'rat runs'. So, I am going to support this one!
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Very well said
 
I live on a country road rat run, on a very sharp bend. Current speed limit is 60mph, which most people don't do - those that do end up in my neighbours fence :rolleyes:

It infuriates me when people beep their horn! How is that going to help if there is a slow moving tractor or horse rider round the corner? You will either crash into the back of one, or cause an accident in the other ffs.

Have been some murmurings about lowering the speed limit, but have heard that if they do, they will also put up street lights, which I really don't want :(
 
There have been some horrible acidents reported on here over the years involving vehicles and horses, most caused by excessive speed

I know some areas have Quiet Lanes where walkers, cyclists and horse riders have priority over cars.
This was more the kind of thing I was thinking about having been given the EU link--not having every C or U class road at 20mph
 
I'd rather see the speed limit on all minor roads reduced to 40 mph from national speed limit, than further lowering limits in areas where sensible limits are already in place.
 
Cuffey said:
There have been some horrible acidents reported on here over the years involving vehicles and horses, most caused by excessive speed

I know some areas have Quiet Lanes where walkers, cyclists and horse riders have priority over cars.
This was more the kind of thing I was thinking about having been given the EU link--not having every C or U class road at 20mph
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I suppose there are long straight lanes where you can see the road ahead for miles, across moores and the like, that 20mph would be a bit slow, so maybe i agree not all roads would need or benafit from a slow speed limit.
But to take every road in it's own merrit, would meen local councils would have to get off their butts and do some work, and most wont until something happens, like a death, to bring said road to their notice!
We have a stretch of two lane road near us, that is 60mph, it has very sharp bends all along it, and has many accidents a year, during the summer as evryone comes off the beach early evening time, the queues can tail back for three or four miles, yet there are NO signes warning people of the dangers, someone driving at speed round a corner and... BAMM! hits the last car in the queue.
 
Also, the beeping as you go around a bend, what on earth does that mean? Do you want me to just stop existing when you've beeped?! :confused: grr
 
Residential areas (meaning narrow roads off the main routes) - fine, roads in town where there is parking on 1 side (and there are therefore not 2 lanes) - fine. Passing schools - fine (but I'd prefer that the 20 limit only applied at times when kids are coming out -8am to 9am and 3pm to 4.30)

Blanket 20 on single track roads - CRAZY!!!

Some single track roads are twisty as anything- you try and do 30 and you'd be in a hedge, others are straight as a die with no chance of anything being in the way (no junctions and nothing's going to be coming out of or over the hedge (proper Devon hedge/earth bank 10ft+ tall!) 60 is perfectly safe.

Equally define single track - there are a few A and B roads around me that are single track (A382 to Moretonhampstead being the most obvious example), far more in Cornwall and Scotland - 20 on single track A-roads would more or less cut some of those places off!

Probably would also double visit charges and call out times for vets (who people seem to want to hurry to them...) and would lose masses of time during the day dawdling at 20 (which is pretty slow!)

If we're going for unclassified roads, there are some unclassified roads that have a proper white line down the middle (old A30) and are bigger and safer than some A roads...

As for beeping horn when coming around a blind bend, there's a few around here where it's useful - warning another car/road user that you are there - impossible to see due to 10ft high hedge, road narrow, generally used when doing 15mph around the bend (if I'm prepared to go faster than that - the horn is unnecessary) Also useful on steep (as in up/down hill) bends or where there are often leaves/mud making stopping potentially interesting.
 
Thank you Cuffey, have just had a look at the quiet lanes stuff, I will take this to our next bridleways meeting and have just been sorting out a local route as I was reading it:D
 
YorksG said:
Thank you Cuffey, have just had a look at the quiet lanes stuff, I will take this to our next bridleways meeting and have just been sorting out a local route as I was reading it:D
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We ride along two designated Quiet Lanes most days. There isn't a reduction on the speed limit, but motorists share equal right of way with horse riders, cyclists and pedestrians. Quiet honestly, I don't see any difference between them and other single track roads locally. Motorists drive in the same way on the quiet lanes, taking care around blind bends but driving at the same speed as on other similar, narrow country lanes.
As horse riders, we pull onto the verge when traffic wants to pass, so no difference really. Cost a fair bit of money to erect the Quiet Lane signs and put in a few benches along the way though.
It would be more useful if they'd put an all weather track running along side the road so we didn't have to keep hopping up onto the verge.
 
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