Revisions to DfT guidance on local speed limits: 20 mph on residential streets and those with high movements of pedestrians
The Campaign for Better Transport has welcomed draft revisions to Department for Transport guidance on setting local speed limits. The changes aim to encourage local authorities to introduce 20 mph on residential streets and those with high movements of pedestrians.
The Living Streets campaign group is also running a campaign to cut speeds on roads.
The speed limit on thousands of residential roads will be reduced to 20mph under government moves designed to cut road deaths by a third over the next decade.
Variable limits will be introduced on main roads near schools, with digital signs ordering drivers to cut their speed to 20mph or less when pupils are arriving or departing.
Cameras that detect a vehicle’s average speed will be used instead of road humps to enforce the limit in some of the new 20mph zones.
Commenting on the draft guidance, Richard Hebditch, Campaign for Better Transport’s campaigns director said: 'The Government is setting an agenda for 20 mph for the kinds of streets where we live, shop and work. Reducing speeds will not only lower the numbers of people, particularly children, who are killed or seriously injured on our streets each year, it will also reduce the impact of traffic in towns and cities and help to encourage more walking and cycling.
'We are pleased that the DfT accepts the evidence that ‘20 mph zones’ with heavy traffic calming isn’t the only way to reduce speed, and we welcome the Department’s policy shift to be more supportive of area-wide 20 mph speed limits.[2] But we’d like to see more flexibility given to local authorities so they can use the overall design of streets, including signs and road markings, so drivers clearly understand that the normal speed for residential and high streets is 20mph or lower.'
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