A connected, friendly society flourishes in places where it feels safe to chat or play. People, especially families and elderly, connect outside more easily by slowing down traffic or diverting it away.  20mph is a friendly limit - it raises liveability and quality of life. It’s key to healthy streets. 30mph is isolating.

This is the email sent by our campaigner Rita Antonelli in Ashtead, Surrey to a local councillor. We think it shows an excellent example of the work done by our campaigners across the country.

Thanks to Rita for allowing us to use her email.

I was asked to write a blog for BRAKE's 2019 Road Safety Week. I started with what I think is an inspiring and very relevant quote from Nelson Mandela :-

"There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children."

And that must be the question we ask of politicians. Who do they treat better: The child who wants to walk or cycle to their school or the adult who wants to drive to work?

20mph limits are spreading. 21M people in the UK live where wide area 20mph is agreed.  Experts will gather on 31^st October in Waltham Forest Town Hall, London to consider the future of built up area mobility and how 20mph limits affect accessibility, risk and sustainability. Come and learn about, and contribute to, positive change.

Today we were asked by Bradford Council to a provide a supporting statement to their press release.

This is what we suggested :-

“20mph limits are the global standard where pedestrians and cyclists mix with motor vehicles. This is supported by the World Health Organisation, OECD, and many global and national NGOs. In many countries, 30km/h (18.5mph) limits are standard across cities, towns and villages. Already 21m people in the UK live in authorities that have already set or are setting 20mph for most residential and city centre streets. 20mph becomes the norm rather than the exception. This delivers across a wide range of city aspirations including reducing road danger, enabling active mobility, child mobility , elderly mobility and reducing emissions and car-dependency.

It is good to see Bradford Council adopting 20mph limits, and we would urge it to go further and deliver a 20mph street environment as the norm for all its residential roads across the whole district.”

Reducing speed limits is the quickest, cheapest and most equitable way of cutting traffic noise. Slower is quieter.

Lower speeds also allow the noise benefits of electric cars to be spread more widely and are foundational for traffic reduction.

Transport for London’s (TfL) current consultation on 20mph limits[1] heralds a concerted bid to reduce speeds across the capital. It includes a range of measures to increase driver compliance. Support the consultation by 10 July.  

[1] https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/streets/20/consultation/

20mph Scotland Poll 72% Support. Policy costs 0.75% of transport budget for 2 years. Leaders should prioritise local streets.

Public opinion is for 20mph - 72% and rising. Scotland’s elected leader– Nicola Sturgeon should back a national change to 20mph. The cost is £10m for 2 years – only 0.75% of the total transport budget. Reducing road danger is like seatbelt and smoking ban laws. On 20mph we need leaders who will lead and make national changes!

When someone says they speed, it’s important to comment rather than be silent.  How do we tackle this edgy topic?  20’s Plenty aims for social communication, changing norms to civilise built up roads. We say, listen to their story, aim to empathise and then explain how their speeding impacts upon you and society.

20’s Plenty for Us welcomes the publication of the long-awaited DfT Evaluation of 20mph limits. It confirms the public support and acceptance of 20mph limits but has failed to meet the original DfT objectives or provide increased evidence on how to make our streets safer.