Safe Speed Forums

Councillor Alex Bentley, executive member for traffic, praised the "bold step" and said the new speed limit will help to "change attitudes and make speeding an anti-social way to behave".

As for this "5% reduction in accidents for 1mph drop in speed", we've talked about this before. For example, if the speed limit is dropped from 60mph to 40mph, there won't be any more accidents, as 20mph equates to a 100% reduction. Somebody needs to highlight this bullsh*t for what it is.

Seeing as the 20mph limit is being introduced on roads where the average speed is 24mph, that means that the average driver has now been criminalised and branded as "anti-social", for previously being very law abiding and driving under the 30mph speed limit.

Yes, the speed limit will change attitudes. Councillor Bentley is incompetent, and the new speed limits will punish the previously law abiding citizen.

Why is it that motorists regard themselves as competent to drive whilst looking at the Satnav, fiddling with their CD players, using mobile 'phones for talking and texting, whilst smoking, eating, drinking or applying make-up; but turn into Gerald Ford when required to look at the speedo?

Will the councillors responsible for this change be forced to pay from their own pockets when in 5 years time the statistics remain unchanged?

I'd like to remind folks of this (issued December 2006):

PR423: The dangerous 20mph zone mystery

news: for immediate release

Safe Speed has today criticised Department for Transport and the Scottish
Executive for failing to consider figures that show 20mph speed limit zones
have crashes which are, on average, more dangerous than those in 30mph zones.

Official figures show that the likelihood of a casualty being fatally or
seriously injured in 2005 was:

11.85% in 20mph zones and
10.26% in 30mph zones

There are a range of possible explanations including:

* A greater proportion of 20mph zone crashes include vulnerable road users

* 20mph zones are created in places where dangers are greatest* 20mph zones create an illusion of safety, where people take less care

* Some drivers in 20mph zones are so busy attempting to maintain 20mph that
they simply don't brake before impact, possibly because they are looking at
their speedos when something goes wrong.

* 20mph zones encourage drivers to actually travel at 20mph when 10 or 15mph
may have been a better choice.

As for dropping the limit from 30mph to 20mph, I will now need to drive in third gear rather than fifth gear, meaning that my fuel consumption will increase, and that I will create more pollution.

:We'll see a reduction in motorway speed limits to 50mph.

They wouldn't do that across the board. The 1mph drop in speed leading to a 5% drop in accidents would be proven to be a load of b*llocks like it is, and so the government would try to avoid it by only dropping the speed limit to 60mph (10mph drop, like Portsmouth).

:gatso2: From what I've read in the Daily Express, some are welcoming this move to have 20mph limits, claiming it will save the lives of pedestrians and cyclists. So if I am forced to drive at 20mph, then that will automatically prevent cyclists jumping red lights and pedestrians from jay-walking? I think not.

If this ridiculous speed limit is enforced, then the knock-on consequence must be that speed cameras are calibrated to flash offenders in excess of that speed. Wouldn't that mean that we're all driving around at 15-18mph to avoid a NIP in the post.

I agree with everything that everyone on this forum has said. If you have to religiously stare at your speedometer to keep at 20mph, then that's inattention which is a greater cause of accidents than excessive speed.

I'm not a betting man, but I think it's a safe bet that inside a year or so, the same logic will apply to motorways. We'll see a reduction in motorway speed limits to 50mph. I think it's inevitable that the accident rate will increase and if it does then we could see a further reduction in speed limits.

They might have based this whole fiasco on an inaccurate formula!

20MPH LIMIT 'A WASTE OF MONEY'

Saturday June 2,2007
By Jo Macfarlane

Have your say(1)

MOTORISTS have reacted angrily to a new blanket 20mph speed limit, claiming it will not cut accidents and will only increase congestion.

Drivers complained as the go-slow scheme was rolled out in parts of Portsmouth yesterday. Many called the idea a “disgusting” waste of money which would be impossible to police and would hurt the environment.

Some drivers are so furious they have pledged to ignore the new speed limit completely if it is ex­tended to other towns and cities across Britain.

The proposals are the latest in a series of clampdowns on the nation’s drivers. Many motorists say the money should be spent on road safety lessons.

Muriel Irwin, 43, of Portsmouth, said: “It’s disgusting, the money they are spending on these new signs. It should be spent on educating children on how to cross the roads properly and safely.

“People should be able to drive to their own ability and at a speed they feel safe with.

“Looking down at the speedo all the time is going to make matters worse and if children think a slower car is a safer car it may encourage them to take more risks when crossing the road.”

The pharmacy assistant added: “I was driving along doing just 15mph when a woman ran out in front of me and I hit her. Thankfully she wasn’t seriously hurt but it shows the real danger is people not looking where they are going.”

The scheme in Portsmouth is desig-ned to reduce the number of accidents and cut congestion.

Signs across the south-east of the city, costing up to £475,000, have been put up to warn of the new limit.

If successful, other councils in towns and cities across Britain could adopt similar strategies.

But the plan could backfire if motorists boycott the new limit. Railway engineer David Barry, 30, of Portsmouth, said he would simply ignore the speed restrictions. “I think 20mph is far too slow,” he said. “I live down a road where it has just been introduced and at that speed I might as well run. The only time I will stick to that speed is if the police are about or some go-slow driver gets in my way.”

George Payne, 85, said: “It’s crazy they can think of imposing these new limits when people are so keen to be green.

By going slowly, more junk will be pumped into the air and our lives will suffer.

“The guys who think up this nonsense are not drivers, are they?”

John Griffiths, 72, lives in an area of Cosham to the north of the city where there has been a partial 20mph zone for about a year. He said: “I don’t think having this zone has changed things at all. We still get people driving at 30 or 40mph. Unless it is enforced there is no way of stopping that.”

Portsmouth City Council officials have admitted the scheme may take some time to have an effect. But it said the reaction from drivers had so far been “positive”.

City transport boss Coun Alex Bentley said: “As far as I know there have not been any complaints to the city helpdesk.

“It may take some people a while to get used to the scheme, but we are having a three-week bedding-in period while we get all the signs up.”

The city’s south-east is the first area to be covered by the new blanket speed limit which will be introduced in other parts of Portsmouth later this year. Main routes within the city’s 273 miles of roads will not be affected by the 20mph limit.