Road safety and breakdown organisation GEM Motoring Assist is using the UN Global Road Safety Week as an opportunity to call for smart new policies and initiatives to reduce vehicle speeds.
Central to this latest Global Road Safety Week (17 to 23 May 2021) is the assertion that low speeds save lives.
A recent study from Bristol showed that the introduction of 20mph limits was associated with a 63% reduction in fatal injuries between 2008 and 2016.
There is widespread support for lower speeds, too. In UK surveys, 70% of motorists in a Department for Transport survey said they agreed that 20mph was the right limit for streets where people live. Meanwhile, a poll in Scotland suggested that 65% were in favour, and one in four people thought it would make them more likely to walk or cycle in their everyday life.
Neil Worth, chief executive of GEM Motoring Assist, said: “Low speed on roads can help save lives and are the heart of any community. 20mph speed limits where people and traffic mix make for streets that are healthy, green and liveable. That’s why the UN is calling them ‘streets for life’.
“So we are joining safety organisations around the world to make policymakers aware of the benefits of lower speed. We want to persuade them to act for low speed streets worldwide, limiting speeds to 20mph where people walk, live and play.”
1 thought on “GEM calls for 20mph limits in residential streets”
If a pedestrian gets hit at 20mph then their chance of survival is greater. However my experience of pedestrian behaviour on roads that have changed to the lower speed limit, is that they are even more likely to step out in front of an oncoming vehicle on a 20mph limit road as they know this, and they expect the driver to adhere to the speed limit. But of course we know that drivers don’t do that, and drivers tailgate and harrass those that do keep within the 20mph limit. So for the driver who does drive within the law they have to contend with idiot pedetstrians as well as idiot drivers.