Founder & Campaign Director, 20's Plenty for Us

Rod King 144sc

Rod King

Rod King's activity stream

  • commented on LA Enforcement explained 2018-09-13 16:10:49 +0100
    Not yet, but we believe that several are considering it.
  • commented on 20mph Signage Regulation Changes 2018-09-09 18:35:22 +0100
    Dear Graham

    You will be pleased to know that on entering a 20mph limit or zone there is a large sign that is 600cm across or in diameter. In old units that is 2ft wide. Hence there is no reason why an aware driver would not notice such a sign. Its the same size as when you enter a 30mph limit. Indeed, it iss the same size as the one you say you noticed on exiting a limit.

    20mph limits are now very common and 25% off the UK population live in local authorities where 20mph is the limit on most roads. Hence a 20mph limit should not be surprising at all. May I therefore suggest that if you feel that you may well not notice such signs then you should assume that the speed limit is 20mph and only proceed faster if you have noticed a 30mph sign.
  • commented on Police Enforcement 2022-04-12 13:52:02 +0100
    Thanks Gary. I guess you aren’t aware that for several decades the Secretary of State has not been required to approve a 20mph limit.

    Any setting of a 20mph limit requires a Traffic Regulation Order that includes advertising and the ability for anyone to object. I guess you didn’t.

    I can’t recall where I have said that you don’t need to take responsibility when crossing the road. But with 542 pedestrians killed on pavements in the last 13 years maybe the real focus should be on motorists taking responsibility when crossing the pavement.

    Have a good day.
  • commented on How local authorities can enforce 20mph limits 2018-08-19 17:44:24 +0100
    Hi Eddie

    The HOTA requirements may be found at http://library.college.police.uk/docs/NPCC/NPCC-(2016)-Speed-Red-light-Enforcement-Technology-Guide-v1-2-1-July2016.pdf. I see no reason why these cannot be maintained.

    It may be funded in many ways, including speed awareness courses.

    Local authorities are well versed in complying with any competition acts.
  • published 20mph Seminar in Scottish Parliament in Blogs 2018-05-21 07:28:14 +0100

    20mph Seminar in Scottish Parliament

    I was delighted to be asked to speak at the seminar held in the Scottish Parliament building to discuss the private members bill for changing the national default limit for restricted roads in Scotland to 20mph. Local Authorities would be able to make appropriate exceptions where a 30mph limit would be retained for certain roads.

    The text of my presentation follows :-

    Read more
  • published FAQs in Info 2018-05-06 19:02:07 +0100

    FAQs

    20 Questions About 20’s Plenty Answered
    Posted by · April 28, 2019 3:05 PM

    Why Not Concentrate on ‘Special’ Locations for Road Safety?
    Posted by · December 20, 2018 7:27 PM · 1 reaction

    What happened in Bath? Did deaths increase?
    Posted by · May 06, 2018 8:16 PM · 1 reaction

    See all posts
  • published Bristol’s 20mph limits have led to valuable reductions in speed and casualties, and benefit active travel in Press Releases 2018-02-12 20:44:10 +0000

    Bristol’s 20mph limits have led to valuable reductions in speed and casualties, and benefit active travel

    The University of the West of England (UWE) has analysed the impact of 20mph roll-outs for Bristol City Council. It finds reductions of 2.7mph in average traffic speeds and an estimated cost saving of over £15m per year from fatal, serious and slight injuries avoided.

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  • commented on How Public Health Professionals Can Help Win 20mph Limits 2018-01-21 17:36:31 +0000
    Dear Cllr Davies

    I am somewhat troubled by your suggestion that motorists who exceed speed limits are behaving “responsibly”. The whole point of local traffic authorities setting speed limits is that they warn drivers of risks and hazards which they may otherwise be unaware .

    By all means you may have a different opinion on what speed limit to set, and as a councillor you have every opportunity to have your opinion heard, but once set then it becomes mandatory regardless of your opinion. Any driver deeming himself or herself above the law deserves any sentence that breaking such a law involves.

    May I remind you of the long held principle in the UK that elected representatives of the people set laws, a professional police force enforces laws and an independent judiciary sentences those who are found breaking those laws.
  • published More Council Myths in Briefings 2017-10-29 18:24:04 +0000

    More 20mph Council Myths

    Councillors and council officers don’t always tell the truth on 20mph limits. Here we bust some more of the common myths. See also part 1 http://www.20splenty.org/council_myths about A and B roads, current average speeds over 24mph, unsupportive police and collision history.

    Read more
  • commented on Get your info 2017-10-06 12:04:16 +0100
    Hi Carolyn

    Try http://papers.sae.org/2007-01-0758/

    I have approached Professor Strauss regarding access to the paper.

    Rod
  • commented on NICE Recommends 20mph limits Without Traffic Calming to Improve Air Quality 2017-07-29 18:48:43 +0100
    The most important thing is to be consistent. If you do something in only one place to physically reduce speeds then at the same time you are communicating that elsewhere you can and should go faster. Engineering is fine if you can do it throughout the whole network of community roads. But is the affordable or practical? Other routes to gain compliance can be engagement, enforcement. Society has a choice, carry on curbing walking and cycling from fear of traffic danger or subject non-compliers to the rule of law. Its not difficult, simply needs commitment to supporting communities and the levers to better public health, air quality, child and elderly mobility, etc.
  • commented on IAM are not so RoadSmart in their interpretation of the latest DFT report on speed limit compliance on 20mph roads 2017-07-03 18:34:04 +0100
    Other observations from the DfT report are that even on these roads with few visual clues as to the presence of people :-

    1) On 20mph roads, 37% are exceeding the limit by less than 5 mph, which is not too bad
    2) On 20mph roads, 15% are exceeding 30mph
    3) On 30mph roads, 53% of cars are exceeding the 30mph (and 25% are going more than 35mph)
    4) That means that roads with a 20mph limit have 38% FEWER cars going over 30mph!

    Or to put it even more simply, while more than half of motorists exceed 30 mph on a 30 mph road, only 15% do on (even atypical, non residential) 20 mph roads, making them substantially safer for people walking or cycling.

    P.S. If over half of all motorists are speeding on 30 mph roads does IAM conclude they’re causing confusion too?
  • commented on 20's Plenty for London Update - Sep 16 2017-05-31 19:12:02 +0100
    Dear James

    Many thanks for your comments. We know from British Social Attitude Surveys that about 70% of people are in favour of 20mph limits for residential roads and busy streets. At the same time about 10% oppose. So I guess you are one of the 10%!

    Yes, roads really are safer, and if you were to replace all the people using bicycles in Westminster with cars then it really would be far more congested.

    And places which provide streets and roads which can be used by all rather than just those in cars are actually more economically successful than those with 20th century ideas of the car being king and used to displace other forms of transport.
  • commented on How we help 2019-06-02 16:13:54 +0100
    Hi Tanisha

    For posting a sign to USA the postage is the major cost. But if you would like to donate $10 on our donate page at www.20splenty.org/donate then we will send you one.

    Best wishes

    Rod
  • commented on Lessons to learn from Manchester 2017-07-31 21:46:13 +0100
    Hi Vanessa
    Our response is that driving more calmly and eliminating acceleration to 30mph will have a very positive effect on air quality. See our press releases

    20MPH LIMITS OFFER A TOXIC DIESEL FUME REDUCTION EQUIVALENT TO TAKING HALF OF ALL PETROL CARS AWAY
    http://www.20splenty.org/emission_reductions

    NICE RECOMMENDS 20MPH LIMITS WITHOUT TRAFFIC CALMING TO IMPROVE AIR QUALITY
    http://www.20splenty.org/nice_20mph_for_air_quality

    Rod
  • commented on Manchester Found Casualties Falling in its 20mph Areas 2017-03-11 13:02:41 +0000
    Hi Gina

    When you put in wide-area 20mph limits you include many roads where the average speeds are already low. You do this for consistency and because it would be ridiculous to maintain a 30 limit on such roads when “faster” roads had a 20 limit. Reductions tend to be proportional to the previous average, with higher ave speed roads achieving the highest reductions. Hence the inclusion of low speeds roads where you will see minimal or zero reduction tends to dilute the overall average reduction.

    On most 20mph wide-area implementations you get approx 1-2mph overall average reduction in speed. But this is skewed with faster roads achieving up to 6mph reduction. Whilst this is quite different from an isolated and physically calmed scheme, such schemes only reduces speed on that small section of road and endorses 30mph on the rest of the road network. You can see our comparison at http://www.20splenty.org/networkwide20.

    You are correct in considering that authority-wide 20mph limits are far more about setting a social consensus rather than traffic management. The crude sort of analysis conducted by Manchester City Council makes no allowance for this and is critically flawed. See my blog on this at http://www.20splenty.org/lessons_to_learn_from_manchester
  • commented on A Call for Safety Camera Enforcement of 20mph limits 2017-01-06 10:45:17 +0000
    Thanks for your comment Peter. I would suggest that a more appropriate comment would be “Yes obviously increasing speed makes the impact worse, saying speed is a feature in all crashes is like saying the height is a feature in all fall from height incidents.”

    All limits are flouted, but what that same DFT report, which only measured free-flowing roads, noted was that speeds on 20mph limits were 6mph lower than those on 30mph roads for all classes of traffic. Note that the report only included a total of 9 20mph sites across the whole country.
  • published 20mph cuts air and noise pollution to prevent blighted lives in Briefings 2016-11-24 05:50:49 +0000

    20mph cuts air and noise pollution to prevent blighted lives

    20mph limits massively cut toxic diesel emissions. 40,000 die early pa[1] from outdoor fumes – 23 times more than in crashes[2]. 20mph is equivalent to taking over half the petrol cars off the road. Traffic noise also blights lives. 20mph halves perceived noise compared to 30mph. We can’t see pollution, yet it affects our physical and mental health. Demand 20mph today!
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  • published Isle of Wight Full Council Vote For 20mph limits in Press Releases 2016-11-01 14:32:05 +0000

    Isle of Wight Full Council Vote For 20mph limits

    20mph limits have been voted on at Full Council on the Isle of Wight. The 20mph vote was won on Wednesday 19th October.  80% of Councillors supported 20mph for built up areas. Councillor Julie Jones-Evans’ motion called for 20mph limits for “'residential streets, town and village centres, and where people work and learn.”  

    Open PDF

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