Spain's Minister of the Interior has presented the consolidated data on road accidents for 2021 in Toledo to value the work carried out by municipalities in terms of road safety

In 2021, 417 people died on urban roads, 102 fewer fatalities than in 2019, a reduction in mortality of 20 percent in a single year unprecedented in the historical series

Grande-Marlaska: “When explaining this significant reduction in road mortality in our cities last year, I want to remember that on May 11, 2021, the speed limit of only 30 kilometers per hour on city streets came into effect. one lane in each direction of travel

The decrease in deaths in cities has been reflected in vulnerable users with a 34% reduction in cyclists, 31% in deaths over 64 years of age, 26% in pedestrians and 17% in motorcyclists

The Change.org petition to oppose the Welsh Government national default 20mph limit misinforms in that it misreads the Welsh Government plans and the ability of local highway authorities to set local exceptions. In this and many other inaccuracies it is therefore extremely limited as an assessment of public support for opposing the national default 20mph limit with exceptions that has been set in Wales.

The following gives a section by section critique of the petition and its flaws.

Oxfordshire County Hall – 20^th October 2022, 10:00-16:30
Co-hosted by Oxfordshire County Council, 20’s Plenty for Us and Landor Links

20mph limits are already being delivered to 28 million people in authorities in the UK and are becoming the norm for rural communities as well as towns and cities.

The world is changing its perspective on what is an appropriate speed for motor vehicles wherever they share public spaces with people. 30km/h or 20mph is becoming the new global norm for urban and village streets shared between motors and people.

Gone are the days of designing our streets around cars. Instead, there is a recognition that a healthy city, town or village needs a far better balance in risk and convenience between the people inside and those outside motor vehicles. With most of the larger urban authorities having already set a 20mph limit as a norm it is increasingly clear that what is good for residents in cities is also good for residents in towns and villages. Already thousands of parish councils have called on their county council to set a 20mph limit as a norm. Some counties have already done so.

This conference will feature several counties who are saying 20’s Plenty for our places too. We will feature a session where the Welsh Government and the Welsh Local Government Association will provide their plans to replace the national 30mph limit with a 20mph default with exceptions. Enabling legislation has already been passed and this will take effect on 17th September 2023.

The conference will provide an in-depth perspective of the challenges and opportunities for 20mph in shire counties and rural communities. It will reveal not only how it may be done successfully but also demonstrate the outcomes from such a change.

The conference will feature:

• The first national roll-out of 20mph in the UK with detailed presentations from the Welsh Government, including a keynote presentation from Lee Waters MS, Deputy Minister for Climate Change.
• Visions of a future decade as 20mph becomes the norm including a presentation from Prof Danny Dorling.
• Rural counties presenting their 20mph plans from co-hosts Oxfordshire County Council and Cornwall Council, as well as a review of outcomes from 20mph in county towns and villages across the country.
• Community 20’s Plenty campaigners showing how they are influencing rural councils.

It will provide informed and focussed presentations for the following attendees:

• Councillors and officers responsible for transport, mobility, active travel, public health and climate change.
• Transport and road safety professionals.
• Campaigners for safer quieter streets and active travel.
• Media specialists in transport and mobility.

Agenda

Deborah Sims (chair) - Senior Vice President - Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation

How Wales is implementing a national 20mph default urban/village limit

Lee Waters AM - Deputy Minister for Climate Change - Welsh Government

Robert Kent-Smith - Deputy Director - Transport, Strategy and Policy - Welsh Government

Ian Bradfield - Principal Policy Lead – Roads - Welsh Government

Jason Williams - Gwent Police

Ms Kaarina Ruta - Transport Assistant - Welsh Local Government Association

20mph limits as a foundation for the next decade of change

Prof Danny Dorling - Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography - University of Oxford

Sam Bailey - Future Transport

Rod King MBE - Founder & Campaign Director - 20's Plenty for Us

How rural counties are implementing 20mph as a norm and the results gained

Andrew Gant - Cabinet Member for Highway Management - Oxfordshire County Council

Pete Sudbury - Cabinet Member for Climate Change Delivery and Environment - Oxfordshire County Council

Phil Jones - Chair - Phil Jones Associates

Philip Desmonde - Cabinet Member - Transport Portfolio - Cornwall Council

How communities help authorities to understand the level of public support

Anna Semlyen - Campaign Manager - 20's Plenty for Us

Adrian Berendt - Campaign Manager, South East England - 20's Plenty for Us

Dean Evans - County Lead Campaigner - 20's Plenty for Cornwall

Ian Conlon - County Lead Campaigner - 20's Plenty for North Yorkshire

Delegate fees are set to provide a very cost-effective and informative day for delegates.

For Public Sector delegates the fee is £95

For Private Sector delegates the fee is £175

Delegates can register at the Landor Links webpage

Download PDF

The Restricted Roads (20 mph Speed Limit) (Wales) Order 2022 - Questions and Answers

What is it?

This order requires approval by Senedd Cymru (Welsh Government) and changes the speed limit for restricted roads (those with lighting at intervals of not more than 200yds) from 30mph to 20mph. This order would become effective 17^th September 2023. It was debated in Senedd on 12^th July 2022 and passed 39 votes to 15.

The presidency of the ITF[0] rotates amongst its 64 member countries and is being transferred to UK near the start of the UN Decade of Action on Road Safety 2021-2030. This is a unique opportunity for UK Secretary of State, Grant Shapps to provide leadership and #CommitToAct by reducing the national urban speed limit to 20mph, a proven road safety initiative that could save millions of lives if adopted worldwide. This is a key call of the ITF and others to set 30km/h and 20mph limits wherever motors mix with people.

Europe Call to Action from the Global Alliance of Road Safety NGOs

An Urgent Call to Action for Europe

Rationale

Each year, the world suffers 1.3 million preventable deaths and an estimated 50 million injuries from road crashes^[1]. Without serious action, road crashes will cause an estimated 13–17 million more deaths and 500 million more injuries in the current decade^[2].

UN Member States have adopted a resolution 74/299 Improving Global Road Safety^[3] and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (target 3.6)^[4] and are therefore mandated to reduce road deaths and injuries by 50% by 2030. We know what works to achieve this target: the actions needed are set out in the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030^[5].

Frameworks and targets have been set: it is time to act now.

Regional Context

Although the European region has the lowest regional rates of road traffic deaths (9.3 deaths per 100,000 people) in the world, people are still dying every year on the region’s roads. Across the region, road crashes kill more children and young people aged 5–29 than any other cause^[6]. In the European Union (EU), which accounts for 27 of the 53 countries in the region, progress toward reducing road deaths between 2011–2020 fell short of the 50% target^[7]. Even if we reach the updated target to reduce road deaths by 50% by 2030, this still means over 9.5 million road deaths over ten years.

Many countries in Europe are working toward their road safety targets with a variety of management systems, such as the Safe System approach and Vision Zero by 2050.The recent EU Mission Climate Neutral & Smart Cities^[8] target for 100 carbon neutral cities by 2030 adds further impetus for safe active mobility and public transportation to reduce our carbon footprint and make roads safer.

We must seize this window of opportunity to scale up action on road safety. By doing so, we will not only save lives and empower others to save lives, but also improve public health, stimulate economic growth, and promote environmental sustainability.

Regional systems and policies provide a framework to address road safety; European countries must fully commit to them and turn commitments into concrete actions.

Call to Action

We call on all governments in Europe to commit to act for people’s right to safe mobility and a 50% reduction in road deaths and injuries by 2030 through implementation of evidence-based interventions that put people at the center, protect our children and their right to life and education, safeguard the environment, and promote equality and inclusion.

Safe mobility is our right.

We demand:

• Evidence-based actions, with particular focus on the safety of those at greatest risk of harm on our roads, including children, pedestrians, and cyclists
  1. Prioritize the interventions that will achieve the 2030 target most quickly and effectively by:
     1. Implementing national laws mandating 30 km/h speed limits where people walk, live, and play;
     2. Encouraging and enforcing compliance to these speed limits, demonstrating the benefit of low-speed streets for people and planet;
     3. Addressing other key causes of road deaths and injuries in Europe, by reviewing legislation, such as blood-alcohol limits, aligned to WHO recommendations or better, and encouraging and enforcing compliance to existing regulations.
  2. Encourage people to choose walking, cycling, and public transportation by:
     1. Changing the way our roads, urban spaces, and public transport systems are designed and built, based on the needs of the children and adults that use them and making it safe, affordable, and accessible to shift from private motorized vehicles to active, sustainable modes of transport, including walking, cycling, and public transport;
     2. Reviewing and introducing regulation, based on international best practice, for safe use of new and emerging transport modes, such as e-scooters, that have potential to contribute beneficially to a shift to active and sustainable transport but must be safely integrated to protect users of these new transport modes and all other road users that they interact with;
     3. Harmonizing national legislation to regional mandates, such as EU Directives, and pushing for regional guidance where none currently exists, including use of e-scooters and other emerging modes of transport.
  3. Improve data collection and sharing system to improve policy implementation by:
     1. Establishing unified, comprehensive data systems that produce timely, reliable, accurate, well-categorized road safety data and the causes contributing to crash fatalities and serious injuries;
     2. Introducing key performance indicators (KPIs) for road safety data, defining a data collection program for this purpose, and making KPIs part of periodical monitoring activities.
  4. Provide comprehensive support systems for road crash victims and their families and guarantee their protection by:
     1. Ensuring crash victims’ and families’ rights to information and support through the post-crash period, as well as medical, rehabilitative, psychological, social, and judicial support, and, where appropriate, financial support and fair compensation;
     2. Mandating thorough investigations for crashes that result in serious and fatal injuries, including determining cause and detecting culpability. The data should be used to inform prevention strategies and ensure an effective judicial response for victims and their families;
     3. Ensuring effective deterrents, rigorous enforcement, and prosecution and sentencing of offenders as appropriate.

• Investment in road safety
  1. Allocate comprehensive funding for the full implementation of the above-mentioned actions and report on it annually;
  2. Create and report on innovative schemes to finance road safety interventions.

• NGO involvement in decision-making processes
  1. Establish clear mechanisms at national, regional, and city levels that include civil society organizations and facilitate NGOs to share their knowledge and expertise, in order to complement government’s work.

Our role and commitment

We, as civil society, have a role defined in the Global Plan. We commit to play our part in advocating for and enabling people’s rights to safe mobility and achieve a 50% reduction in road deaths and injuries by 2030.

We commit to:

• Stand up for people’s right to be safe on the roads

We empower people and communities. We show the reality of the roads they use and highlight the experiences of road victims and their loved ones who have been affected by crashes. We speak up on decisions that affect road safety.

• Use data and evidence to show what needs to be done

We amplify data, evidence, and best practices from around the world and we collect ground-level evidence that show the impact of safe and unsafe roads on people and communities.

• Hold our governments accountable for people’s right to be safe on the road and for the 2030 target

We keep road safety on the agenda until every person is guaranteed — through commitment and action — their right to safe mobility. We monitor progress and put a spotlight on action and inaction.

• Leverage regional platforms

We will leverage regional platforms to advocate for region-wide mandates, targets, and KPIs in both EU and non-EU European countries.

^[1] WHO. (2018). Global Status Report on Road Safety 2018. Geneva: World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241565684

^[2] WHO & UN Regional Commissions. (2021). Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030. https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/global-plan-for-the-decade-of-action-for-road-safety-2021-2030; Job, RFS. (2019). Development of a Safe System Approach, Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, 13 January 2019, Washington DC.

^[3] United Nations General Assembly. (2020). Resolution A/74/L86 Improving Global Road Safety. https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N20/226/30/PDF/N2022630.pdf?OpenElement   

^[4] United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (2015). 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. https://sdgs.un.org/goals

^[5]WHO & UN Regional Commissions. (2021). Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030. https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/global-plan-for-the-decade-of-action-for-road-safety-2021-2030

^[6]WHO Regional Office for Europe. (Accessed 2022). Health topics>Environment and health>Transport and health>Data and statistics Injuries. https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/environment-and-health/Transport-and-health/data-and-statistics/injuries2

^[7]European Commission. (2021). Road safety: 4,000 fewer people lost their lives on EU roads in 2020 as death rate falls to all-time low  https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_21_1767

^[8]European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. (2021). EU missions: 100 climate-neutral and smart cities, 2021, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2777/197915

Open PDF

Last week I was invited to give a presentation  at a session on Active Travel of the West Midlands Strategic Police and Crime Board. One of the most important aspects for vulnerable road users is the speed of motor vehciles, so I used the opportunity to present the benefits of a wider, citizen-led approach to speed management and enforcement using the Speedcam Anywhere app.

The transcript of my 5 minutes presentation follows:

How Brexit could become the new killer on Britain’s roads

Jacob Rees-Mogg says we should ignore an EU push for speed limiters in cars - but it has the potential to save more lives than seat belts

There was an article on the Speedcam Anywhere app in the Road CC website and a few comments where readers had not understood how it works. I posted the following as an explanation and thought it might be useful.

A new app has been developed that enables any member of the public with a smartphone to gather video evidence of speeding for submission to police for processing and enforcement. This paves the way for wider enforcement and allows police and authorities to align with community demands for speed limit compliance.

We feel that this guest blog is particularly relevant to the update to the Highway Code. It explains the changes and also how default 20mph limits are complementary to these changes. Thanks to Carl Waring of Mooneerams for their perspective.

After a decade without revision, a statutory instrument laid before Parliament last December finally paved the way for a raft of new rules to be introduced into the Highway Code on January 29^th. 

The Department for Transport (DfT) believes that the changes to the Code will Improve safety for vulnerable road users by giving them priority in potentially dangerous situations on or near the highway.

This document provides a critique of the draft Speed Management Strategy as published for public consultation by the Highways and Transport Committee of Cheshire East Council at the meeting on 16^th Nov 2021. Members of the public may comment until 31^st Jan 2022 on the Cheshire East website here.

We advise rejection of the Strategy on several counts.

Wide-area 20mph schemes are already common in urban authorities and “20mph as a norm” is government policy in Wales[1] and Scotland[2]. Now, the desire for 20mph speed limits is sweeping across rural communities throughout the UK. County authorities are starting to answer a call to action from town and parish councils who are giving voice to local residents’ aspirations for 20’s Plenty.

[1] https://www.20splenty.org/welsh_20mph_report

[2] https://www.20splenty.org/scotgov_says_20splenty

What are communities wanting?

Communities across the world are asking for 20mph (30km/h) as a norm in cities, towns and villages.

Local people understand how higher vehicle speeds blight communities and inhibit their ability to walk, cycle and use public transport; they know that lower speeds save lives and reduce pollution; and they appreciate that 20mph can be the cornerstone of building inclusive communities.  In successive UK government surveys, 70% said that 20mph was the right speed limit for residential streets.

With the Welsh government already committed to a national default 20mph limit for urban and village roads, the Scottish Government has announced that it plans[1] for 20mph to become the norm in built-up areas. This aligns with global best practice[2] that 20mph or 30km/h is the maximum permissible speed on roads used by pedestrians and cyclists unless a higher limit is evidentially safe. It is a key component of Scotland’s response to the Climate Emergency and helps to support Active Travel.

Setting 20mph/30kmh limits fits with global goals for health, sustainability and the climate. Though at first glance speeds seem to be about roads, actually they are about people and the world we want to live in. Broad and lasting benefits accrue to people and planet from normalising 20mph/30kmh. Climate, safety, active travel, place-making, the economy and quality of life are all helped.  Lower speed limits have wins now and for future generations.