Login to ePetitioner
20mph speed limit for all residential roads
Lead Petitioner: Mike Leddy
There are no members for this petition.
Status: New > Draft > Rejected > Accepted > Collecting signatures > Waiting submission > Submitted to council > Pending owner response > Closed > Withdrawn >
lifetime 15 Jun 2009 until 31 Dec 2009
Petition
This petition calls upon Birmingham City Council to adopt 20mph speed limit for all residential roads in the City.
Last ten Signatories
- Ehmiada Emhmed
- Terence Paget
- Kevin Chapman
- Mary Donoghue
- eddie currall
- Phil Simpson
- Fionna Stewart-Butler
- Michael Lacoult
- Fatima Lacroix
- Kathryn Baker
Background Information
Residential roads should not be grim thoroughfares serving only fast-moving vehicles. We believe that the benefits of a 20 mph speed limit would be felt throughout Birmingham on roads where we reside, shop locally and stroll. There is strong evidence to support a maximum speed limit of 20 mph for residential roads throughout our City. The Government supports the introduction of 20 mph, and the Conservatives now support 20 mph ‘in all urban areas’. Our residential roads should allow everyone a range of uses. Our residential roads should be a shared space on which residents, shoppers, pedestrians and cyclists, young and old are not second place to car drivers.
Feedback from the Council
The City Council has for a long time recognised the road safety benefits of reduced vehicle speeds in residential areas. Our first 20 mph speed limit zone, incorporating self enforcing traffic calming measures, was introduced in 1993 in the Small Heath area of the City, and was particularly targeted at a problem of child casualties.\r\nThe City Council strongly supports 20 mph speed limits outside of schools, and has introduced a programme for their introduction in Birmingham.\r\n\r\nHowever, there are reservations about the value for money of the widespread introduction of 20 mph limits (i.e. without traffic calming measures) in residential areas. According to the Department for Transport, research into signed-only 20 mph speed limits shows that they generally lead to only small reductions in traffic speeds (less than 1 mph), and that signed-only 20 mph speed limits are therefore most appropriate for areas where vehicle speeds are already low. Based on experience elsewhere, the cost of a scheme to introduce a 20 mph speed limit on residential roads in Birmingham could be in excess of £3million. It does not appear that this approach would represent the best value for money at this time in terms of promoting road safety in Birmingham.\r\n\r\nWhilst the Department for Transport supports 20 mph speed limits, it’s guidance is to encourage highway authorities “to introduce over time” 20 mph zones or limits into streets which are primarily residential in nature. A gradual introduction makes particular sense in the current financial situation where funding is increasingly in short supply. In line with this approach, the City Council is giving priority to reducing speeds near schools, while at the same time, looking to exploit opportunities for introducing 20 mph limits or zones elsewhere to improve local safety.\r\n
