As we reported earlier, Darlington Cycling Campaign is calling for a blanket 20 miles an hour speed limit across Darlington.
A story detailing the call for a 20MPH speed limit appears in today’s Northern Echo (The Northern Echo: 20mph limit call ‘not practical’), in which the Council respond by saying that legally such zones need traffic calming measures, and are therefore impractical. This is not the understanding of the Cycle Campaign. We understand that it is current Police policy to only support 20MPH zones which are ‘self enforcing’, but that there is nothing in law to say that is the case. ‘Self enforcing’ does not necessarily mean speed bumps.
Cambridge Cycling Campaign have an excellent article on 20MPH zones, which touches on this issue.
Stay tuned for more.
UPDATE
DfT publication: Speed – Know your limits (pdf). A useful document, with lots of facts and figures.
British Medical Journal: Reducing the speed limit to 20 mph in urban areas – Child deaths and injuries would be decreased.
(Link to Northern Echo story added.)
Also take a look at the Slower Speed Initiative web site. Their take on 20mph limit is at http://slower-speeds.org.uk/content/view/64/46
We got quoted in the Advertiser as a road safety group, with a semi-thumbs up from a Council Spokesman.
Pretty good going 🙂