20 mph limit for urban streets to cut road deaths

Ambermile

True... and?

snakehips

Where I live the ability to do 20 mph in your car is an unusual and greatly prized luxury

Snake


my bikes ... http://beta.yudu.com/library/item_details/17432/Snakehips--Bikes

megilleland

Newcastle upon Tyne to introduce 20mph on almost all streets and roads.

A BLANKET 20mph speed limit looks set to be introduced on residential streets across Newcastle. Only major bus routes and roads with heavy volumes of traffic would be excluded.

It would take four years to change the speed limit on every street in the city, at a cost of around £1.4m, including £1.1m on signs, £200,000 for legal orders, £95,000 for design and £5,000 for publicity.

The aim is to start next year and officials say between 10 and 15 legal orders will be needed, each covering a different part of the city. Any objections would be heard by a traffic advisory panel, which could lead to a scheme being turned down.

To read full article start here:

Looks as if things are moving slowly in the right direction.

cycledad2

bad company wrote:

20 limits are ok on 'side streets' but they seem to be being introduced on High Streets.

Sawston near Cambridge is a good example. Drivers must stick to 20 on the main road but turn into one of the residential side streets and it is legal to to 30. :roll:

Yeah and imagine how cut up that place would be if the cars were doing 40 mph! No-one would hang around to shop. 20mph limits makes cars less threatening and disruptive to a town. Its also a very good speed for city life and areas where pedestrians wander. ie wher they live and shop. In Sawston they've prioritised 'shop', which is important to the quality of life of a small town like that.

megilleland

Headlines in todays national newspaper El Mundo

"Tráfico limitará a 30 km/h la velocidad de las calles de un único carril".
Roughly translated - DGT Traffic Authority for Spain to limit to 30km/h (18mph) the speed on streets with single carriageway and one way streets.

The change will come into force with the publication of the new Spanish Highway Code, el Reglamento General de Circulación, and was announced by the General Director, Pere Navarro, in Córdoba on Thursday.

Pere Navarro, director of the DGT said that 20 per cent of the streets which are dual carriageway in cities support between 75 and 80 per cent of traffic. On the other hand, 80 per cent of the streets (single carriageway) only support 20 per cent of the traffic. In this respect the majority of the traffic on dual carriageway roads will not be affected.

The measure is more than justified according to Navarro because the pedestrian is the most vulnerable element of the system of mobility. In 2009 from accident data, of the pedestrians inside the urban zone, 46 per cent of them were killed (286), 30,6 per cent of them seriously injured and 13,7 per cent of them minor injuries.

The director of the DGT also said that "at 70 km/h no one is saved; at 50 km/h, 50 per cent are saved and at 30 km/h, 95 per cent are saved ". With the information in the hand, Pere Navarro has held that it would be stupid to continue supporting the limit of maximum speed in the Spanish cities to 50 kilometres hour in streets of an only one carriage way.


also reported in Typically Spanish English News as below:

"Tráfico to reduce speeds to 30 kms/hour in towns and cities
By h.b. - Feb 17, 2011 - 1:26 PM

The new limit will affect all roads with a single lane in each direction, or single lane one-way streets.

The DGT traffic authority has announced plans to reduce the speed limit on all urban roads with just one lane in each direction to 30 km/hour, or in one way streets with a single lane. Currently most such roads have a 50 km/hour limit.

The change will come into force with the publication of the new Spanish Highway Code, el Reglamento General de Circulación, and was announced by the General Director, Pere Navarro, in Córdoba on Thursday.

He justified the measure by saying no pedestrian can survive a car at 70 kms/hour, 50% survive a 50 kms/hour impact, but 95% survive a 30 kms/hour impact.

In 2009, 286 pedestrians were killed on Spanish roads, 46% of them in towns and cities".

What's the chances of this happening here?

nadir

cee wrote:

cars already ignore the existing 20mph speed limits round these parts, so unless it is properly policed, I don't see how it would make a difference.

I wouldn't want to see speed cameras everywhere :evil:

scotland has had "twenty`s plenty" speed limit for years now, i think the rest of the uk should adopt it.

as for the speed cameras, i wouldnt want them everywhere, but i reckon if they had them every hundred yards, that would be ideal

GiantMike

borisvanhalen wrote:

i commute through a largely 20mph area each day, but even when i ride along at 25+mph i'm still being overtaken by cars

they're not just pootling past but doing close to 40... i think its a 'can't sit behind a cyclist' thing
:evil:

Especially one breaking the law.

Wheelspinner

Be careful what you wish for.

To my mind, the worst position on the road is when I am riding along and someone in a car/truck/bus is sitting stuck just off my back wheel, unable to pass. That means they get bored, answer the phone, yell at their kids in the back seat or pick their nose/scratch their nut$ while they dawdle along inattentively. The only thing in their mind is usually "&^#*^*@ cyclist, get out of the way!" Not nice, but true.

Which would your prefer:
a) Someone in the middle of an argument with their ex's divorce lawyer on the phone passing you doing 30 while you do 20, meaning they are in an "impact zone" around you and your bike for perhaps 5 seconds total; or

b) the same person sitting right behind you for 10 minutes as you both roll along at 20, except he or she is also now late for an appointment as well as escalating the argument with the lawyer.

I'll take (a) every time thank you.

Sharkyssurfers

could it be you are looking at it from one angle, where the other angle is that most of us cyclist actually travel more than 20 MPH, so if in a 20 MPH zone would we be pulled over for speeding?

tarquin_foxglove

GiantMike wrote:

borisvanhalen wrote:

i commute through a largely 20mph area each day, but even when i ride along at 25+mph i'm still being overtaken by cars... i think its a 'can't sit behind a cyclist' thing

Especially one breaking the law.

Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984
Part VI
Speed Limits
81 General speed limit for restricted roads.
(1) It shall not be lawful for a person to drive a motor vehicle on a restricted road at a speed exceeding 30 miles per hour.

89 Speeding offences generally.
(1) A person who drives a motor vehicle on a road at a speed exceeding a limit imposed by or under any enactment to which this section applies shall be guilty of an offence.

A local act creating a 20 mph speed limit may apply to cyclists. However, the local act would have to define the offence and penalty - it could not simply refer back to the RTRA, because the offence created in that act (section 89, quoted above) explicitly applies to the drivers of motor vehicles.

peterst6906

spen666 wrote:

megilleland wrote:

Good idea - isn't it. I think all residential estates should be 20mph and turned into home zones. Where streets are 20mph cyclists should be allowed to cycle against the flow on one way streets.

Absolute madness

Works OK on the Continent with no problems, even at higher speed limits.