Comments on: Local democracy and the strange case of speed humps and 20 mph zones

By: Rod King

Rod King — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 18:36:18 +0000

You can also see some of the arguments for authority-wide 20 mph speed limits without bumps at http://www.20splentyforus.blogspot.com.

Regards

Rod King
20′s Plenty for Us
rodk@20splentyforus.org.uk

By: Julian Smith

Julian Smith — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 13:02:38 +0000

Sounds like Tiger Woods has been doing a lot of speed humping, but it was a crash that really slowed him down

By: Guy Roberts

Guy Roberts — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:42:56 +0000

This reminds me of an entry in the letters page of Viz;

“Why are Speed Humps so named ? If anything they slow you down.”

By: Anthony Zacharzewski

Anthony Zacharzewski — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:30:07 +0000

Chris: by that logic all laws would be unnecessary, as people would just do the right thing unprompted. The idea of 20mph zones is that many people drive at reasonable speeds, but some drive at unreasonable speeds and should be prevented from doing so.

By: Halina

Halina — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:07:51 +0000

Duncan – many thanks for that. Lots of good information there that I wasn’t aware of.

Chris: I’m not so willing to dismiss that survey so readily, even if what you say about people driving at just over 30mph is correct (I don’t know).

People often face two ways at once [sic]. It wouldn’t come as a surprise to me to learn that people really really mean it when they say they support 20mph speed limits in residential areas (the survey was about speed limits not zones) but behave differently when they get behind the wheel of a vehicle.

This is in a sense an example of the potential conflict between what we want as consumers (for which one could read people driving ) and what we want as citizens (for which one could read people living in, walking through or crossing roads in, residential areas). No doubt political scientists reading this would have all sorts of fancy terms for it!

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:57:33 +0000

The claim that 75% of people want 20mph zones is rubbish, based undoubtedly on a survey that was designed to get the answer they wanted. If it were true 75% of people would drive at 20mph. As it is, the majority drive just over 30mph.

By: Duncan

Duncan — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:58:28 +0000

Hi Halina,
Have a look at the 20s Plenty campaign website: http://www.20splentyforus.org.uk.

There are many other people like you who support 20mph limits in residential roads but dislike traffic calming.

There are several benefits to area-wide 20mph limits on all residential roads:
1) Its much cheaper to implement (about £350 per road)
2) It benefits the whole community – almost everyone would live on a road with a 20mph limit as opposed to the small minority who would benefit from a 20mph “zone”.
3) It requires engagement with the community to discuss implementing it – getting everyone thinking about road safety and if the community has agreed they want it, then it really helps enforce it.
4) It encourages cycling and walking as people feel safer for the whole of their journeys – a small 20mph zone doesn’t achieve this.

Its been done in Portsmouth and many other places appear to be going ahead with similar schemes: Oxford, Norwich, Bristol etc.