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.

The Scottish Government has published its Road Safety Framework to 2030 Draft for consultation.

We applaud the vision within this that "Our vision is for Scotland to have the best road safety performance in the world by 2030." 

Scotland's road fatalities per million population stands at 30 this is considerably greater than leaders such as Iceland at 17 and Sweden at 22. Whilst such a radical vision is laudable we are concerned that the plans are not radical enough to catch up and overtake other countries in terms of road safety.

Our response to the consultation points out that much more must be done if Scotland's performance is to match its' aspirations. It makes particular reference to speed management. 

The Safer Streets Bill reaches its Stage 1 debate in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday 13th June. This evening I sent the following email to the Members of the Scottish Parliament.

20’s Plenty are dismayed with the RECC report[1]. The views are illogical, innumerate and deeply flawed. They show a shocking disregard for protecting the lives of vulnerable road users and promoting active travel.  

[1] https://digitalpublications.parliament.scot/Committees/Report/REC/2019/5/31/Stage-1-Report-on-the-Restricted-Roads--20-mph-Speed-Limit---Scotland--Bill

The Scottish Government are questioning a 20mph default limit. Our response is to ask for clarity. Exactly what is at the heart of the matter with 20mph? Evidence, political will, siding with the motoring lobby or a lack of vision?

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!

We have just submitted our response to the Rural and Economic Connectivity Committee of the Scottish Parliament consultation regarding the "Restricted Roads (20mph speed limit) (Scotland) Bill". This bill will set a national 20mph limit (instead of 30mph) for most restricted roads with the ability of local traffic authorities to make exceptions which will retain a 30mph limit. It provides for national consistency and local flexibility.

"We applaud the Scottish Government in progressing this bill to its current stage. It provides a huge opportunity to align Scotland to what is becoming best practice across the world and especially in more socially aware countries. It aligns Scotland with such countries as Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Austria, Germany and Japan where 30kmh is the accepted norm in communities whether urban or rural.

It will move Scotland away from the English model of inconsistent local setting of speed limits on built-up roads based on council priorities, values and empathy with communities. It will instead provide for a common national value of how roads are shared and do what national governments do best by setting those standards, facilitating implementation yet still allowing the flexibility for exceptions to be determined locally."

Our full response follows. 

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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 :-

Summary of Costs and Benefits of 3 Options for Scottish Road Speeds – The Impact of the 20mph National Default Limit

We give our best estimates of the options for rolling out 20mph limits across Scotland. The country will have the benefit of learning from the success of other country 20mph/30kmh implementations, especially England where 25% of the population lives in local authorities who are or have already implemented 20mph limits for most roads. But Scotland can follow the "English" way by implementing authority by authority subject to local political support and funding, or take a more radical and cost effective route by making a national plan for country-wide implementation.

This allows the avoidance of the need for repeater signs on 20mph roads and simplifies the whole implementation process. Local authorities will still be able to nominate roads which will remain at 30mph as exceptions.

Here we present our best estimates of the cost and benefits for each. Transport Scotland will be well placed with its access to street and road detail to produce a more accurate costing and we would be pleased to work with them on such an exercise.