http://www.thisishampshire.net/news/dai ... chools.php
20mph limit outside Hampshire schools
Quote:
SPEED limits of 20mph are to be brought in at 570 schools in Hampshire, the Daily Echo can reveal.
Transport bosses plan to have voluntary speed limit signs on roads outside all schools controlled by Hampshire County Council by this autumn.
And in Southampton, where roads chiefs have already put in place similar restrictions outside 11 of the city's schools they are investigating whether to expand this to all of their schools.
The move by bosses at the county council comes just days after Portsmouth became the first local authority in the UK to impose a 20mph limit policy to curb accidents involving pedestrians and cars in urban areas.
Neither Hampshire nor Southampton are considering similar blanket moves but both want to cut the speed of traffic around schools.
County council environment spokesman Councillor Mel Kendal said: "Reducing traffic speeds outside schools is important.
advertisement"We are looking at bringing in 20mph voluntary limits outside all Hampshire's schools by putting up signs. They will carry the slogan Twenty is Plenty'."
He added that already most motorists slow down as they are passing schools, and that would help to reinforce the message.
Councillor Gavin Dick, the transport guru at Southampton City Council, said: "We are keen on introducing 20mph limits outside schools and in other areas if it would improve safety and people want it , then we would consider it too.
HAMPSHIRE: Parents welcome crackdown on traffic speed
Cllr Mel Kendal
"We're looking to really improve traffic control around schools, but it is a case of identifying where the risk is greatest. This process has started already."
So far 13 per cent of schools in Southampton, including Ludlow Junior, Kanes Hill Primary and St George's, have 20mph limits in place.
Nine of these limits, which are mandatory rather than voluntary, were put in place by the city council and the two others by developers under PFI schemes. On average the city council says it hopes to put in place two more each year.
Parents and road safety organisations have welcomed the crackdown on speed outside schools.
The charity Brake says that the limits are exactly what it has been campaigning for, and although it wants other councils following Portsmouth's example, would welcome 20mph zones being introduced anywhere.
Mother-of-two and councillor Jenny Head said that her local authority had proposed a similar move for the borough's schools to the county council four years ago, so new limits would be a positive step.
She said: "As a mother, I would be very supportive.
"In Bishopstoke especially I see children walking to school on their own and at the moment, with cars racing along, it's an accident waiting to happen. It's very nice the county council is taking this on board."
3:00pm Wednesday 6th June 2007
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Speed limit sign radio interview. TV
Snap Unhappy“It has never been the rule in this country – I hope it never will be - that suspected criminal offences must automatically be the subject of prosecution” He added that there should be a prosecution: “wherever it appears that the offence or the circumstances of its commission is or are of such a character that a prosecution in respect thereof is required in the public interest”
This approach has been endorsed by Attorney General ever since 1951. CPS Code