A new report highlights that how implementing 20mph over a small area in Belfast where speeds are already below 20mph is far inferior to the established experience from city-wide schemes that reduce speed and casualties significantly. Hence this report gives little insight into the success of setting 20mph as an urban/village norm other than showing how not to implement it.

The implementation in Belfast was on just 76 streets in the city-centre on which the average vehicle speed was well below 20mph. Of these 76 streets, 27 were already fully or partially pedestrianised. At the same time other travel initiatives included the introduction of a rapid transit system and extension of the city-centre bus lane provision. There was also little community engagement or marketing of the 20mph scheme.

Such an isolated and small implementation which keeps 30mph as a norm on all the other streets in the centre was always going to result in little change and this report confirms this. In fact other reports which compared Belfast with Edinburgh and its city-wide 20mph scheme show just how more effective 20mph schemes are when implemented city-wide.