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Oliver, Islington Council have begun to enforce 20mph as well as The City. It's sporadic and involves police with speed guns at the moment. In both cases drivers first get and oral warning then a letter...
skydancer-
I know. Hackney Police are aiming to do something similar. I don't think it's started yet. I didn't mean to get into too much detail--the small progress is, of course, that a few police forces have given up their long-standing resistance to enforcing 20mph limits, but it is still a very, very long way to go ...
Oliver Schick
The problem is with uneven (burst/standstill) speeds. One reason why Brixton High Street (and every other major street in London) gets clogged up is because if people accelerate headlong to get to the back of the queue first/quickly, the queue forms more quickly, and as everybody then is stuck at 0mph for a good while, the queue gets longer and longer, dissolves more and more slowly, and congestion builds up. With a lower speed limit, there's actually a chance of having a more even movement of traffic. This can also increase traffic capacity, but it's not a bad thing to have less burst speed, as that's what really terrifies people. Also, outside of peak times, burst speeds are, of course, reached more routinely without a lower speed limit. The one missing ingredient then is enforcement, which is not where it should be in London yet.