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Rod King commented on NICE Recommends 20mph limits Without Traffic Calming to Improve Air Quality 2017-07-29 18:48:43 +0100The 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.
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Rod King 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 +0100Other 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?
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Rod King commented on 20's Plenty for London Update - Sep 16 2017-05-31 19:12:02 +0100Dear 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.
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Rod King commented on How we help 2019-06-02 16:13:54 +0100Hi 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
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Rod King commented on Lessons to learn from Manchester 2017-07-31 21:46:13 +0100Hi 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
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Rod King commented on Manchester Found Casualties Falling in its 20mph Areas 2017-03-11 13:02:41 +0000Hi 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
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Rod King commented on A Call for Safety Camera Enforcement of 20mph limits 2017-01-06 10:45:17 +0000Thanks 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.
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Rod King 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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Photo: BLF https://www.blf.org.uk/take-action/campaign/clean-air
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Rod King 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.”
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World Health Organisation say 20's Plenty
The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) new Pedestrian Safety report endorses area-wide lower speed limits. It is top level, conclusive proof that signed 20mph limits are effective.
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Scottish 20mph Default Moves Closer
The first Scottish 20mph Conference moved the debate forward on a National 20mph limit. 20mph was clearly popular amongst delegates from many Traffic Authorities with 95% “favouring a national default limit of 20mph”. Conference-goers agreed 20’s Plenty. The Scottish Government can lead on a 20mph default for built up areas as this is the best value for money in raising everyday road safety and liveability.
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20mph As Scotland’s National Limit
People want 20mph streets. Fortunately 20mph limits are affordable and do-able. What’s the best method? The Scottish Government can lead with a 20mph default for built up areas. This is a cost effective win-win all round – eg for the legal process, consultation, signage, engagement, higher compliance and enforcement.
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Rod King commented on 30km/h 2018-08-08 09:20:11 +0100Great to hear that the City of Yarra in Melbourne is trialling 30km/h limits see https://www.facebook.com/thanksfor30/
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Rod King commented on Cardiff to set 20mph limits across the city 2016-04-12 16:36:35 +0100HI Nic
We would be delighted to help and will make contact by email.
Rod
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Rod King published One year zone 30 in Ghent city center: rate drops and fewer accidents in Blogs 2016-03-21 10:52:59 +0000
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Ready for 20 Presentation
At the 7th annual 20mph Places conference in Guildhall, City of London, after a warm welcome from Cllr Michael Welbank MBE, I made my presentation on how 20's Plenty/Love 30 is a developing standard for streets. Here is the text of that presentation.
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Rod King commented on Cheshire East Council to spend £1m telling drivers its not mandatory to go slower around schools and on community streets 2016-01-31 14:40:25 +0000Peter
Thanks for you further comment. WE don’t actually campaign for all urban roads to have a 20mph limit. We campaign that there should be a 20mph default and that any exceptions should be justified. Hence roads which have excellent segregated facilities for walking and cycling, good treatments at intersettions and crossing would not be difficult to justify.
Of course “the child you see” is not so much a problem. Often it is the “child you don’t see” that gets killed or injured, or at least frightened. And of course children with a fear of the roads end up having no independent mobility.
I am not aware of any places in the UK where 20mph limits are being used excessivley, but do recognise that some drivers may feel different. Perhaps it is these drivers that are the reasons why those limits are mandatory rather than advisory.
Advisory 20mph were allowed in Scotland from 2002, but their experience has led Transport Scotland to say that advisory limits should no longer be used and mandatory limits set instead.
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Blog
The 73-year old who started Britain's 20mph revolution
Posted by Rod King · September 24, 2023 12:52 PM · 1 reaction20mph Speed Limits in London - Update for Action Vision Zero
Posted by Rod King · March 06, 2023 2:58 PM · 1 reactionSpeed limits of 20mph in built-up areas will become the “default” for drivers across Britain in a matter of years, the architect of the policy in Scotland has said.
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Posted by Rod King · December 19, 2022 4:26 PM · 1 reaction
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2015 - The Tipping Point Year for 20's Plenty
At this time of the year it is traditional to take stock of achievements and progress in the preceding year. For 20’s Plenty for Us then perhaps 2015 will be seen as the “tipping point” when the whole campaign took on new dimensions and success. It does not mean that in 2015 we achieved our aims of delivering a 20mph limit as the norm for all residential streets in the UK, but was the year when we started to see that that aim was going to be deliverable in the foreseeable future.
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20mph Council Myth Buster
Whilst many urban councils have pressed ahead with 20mph limits, some County and, particularly Shire Councils have not always told the truth if reluctant to implement 20mph. We bust the common 20mph myths.
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Founder & Campaign Director, 20's Plenty for Us
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Rod King
Rod King founded 20's Plenty for Us in 2007
in 2013 he was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours for Services to Road Safety
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