The 20mph campaign/s and arguments...

Isn't speed relative to what you're used to?
Come off a motorway after traveling 80mph to a 40mph road...seems slow
As the whole network gets slowed down people will hardly notice. Will even travel at lower speeds should the environment require (Shared spaces)

If people avoid driving in North London because of the 20mph areas, then great!

Regarding impact on car journeys, average speed in London is 9mph for car drivers.

And from my experience 12mph for bikes. 1 mile equals 5 mins,when obeying lights and not hammering it.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/hackney-rolls-out-20mph-on-majority-of-roads-in-bid-to-cut-accidents-10073015.html

Fantastic, am glad that the kerb nerds and segregationists did not manage to get rid of you.

Er? They all support 20mph as far as I know.

Don't be divisive, we have to campaign together.

traffic at 20 mph emits less noise than that at 30 mph.

another good reason for going 20 mph.

also because 20 mph villages, towns and cities will be perceived as being safer more people will think i can cycle now.

over time they will think i don't need a car anymore. this will lead to less cars.

not so much existing drivers. they will keep driving.

but kids coming through. maybe more of them will think i have been cycling safe so i don't need a car.

road deaths is correlated to number of cars. so less cars equals less road deaths.

this is a scenario i envisage would emerge over a generation and then gather pace.

so for me the 20 mph policy is not really / necessarily aimed at todays drivers.

it is aimed at the future movers.

and letting them to decide to walk or cycle rather than thinking they have to drive all the time.

in this way hopefully 20 mph will lead to more choice / freedom to move decisions.

keep up the good work everybody.

Someone filmed drivers in Copenhagen driving at 20mph during a heavy snow, there was very little noise from the tyres compared to driving at 30mph.

It would make the city liveable instead of having HGV thundering by at 40mph on theobald road at night.

so for example over a generation or two Britain may go from 33m cars to say 20m cars.

and i would anticipate that 20m cars will cause less road death etc than 33m.

the situation will be further improved in developing countries where road deaths etc are an even bigger problem than in the west.

there is more on this line of thinking on the UN and WHO websites.

the UN have a decade of action on road safety running at the moment.

they recognise it is a big issue.

20 mph will help to address the problems.

yes for those living on 'main' roads noise from motor powered vehicles can be very problematic.

20 mph would help to reduce road noise nuisance.

Someone filmed drivers in Copenhagen driving at 20mph during a heavy snow, there was very little noise from the tyres compared to driving at 30mph.

Driving on fresh snow is very quiet compared with driving on tarmac, I don't think the speed was the main differentiator in that situation.

20 mph on london roads is front page news in the london evening standard tonight.

the article says it is a pilot study on some KSI blackspots.

but still this is good news.

and the article says that if successful 20 mph could be introduced on other roads as well.

and that is good news too.

Brixton High Street, 20 mph, chance would be a fine thing.

http://www.cityam.com/211448/here-are-eight-new-20mph-zones-transport-london-introducing-year

Indeed, amazing how the council are happy having a dual carriageway style road on a high street packed with people.

Huh? I think the point is that 20 miles per hour on Brixton High St is impossible to reach. more like 20 miles per day.

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.

That's really interesting, thanks Oliver.

"Westminster Bridge, Stamford Street and Southwark St (between Victoria Embankment and Borough High Street - this trial would also incorporate the previous 20mph trial at Waterloo Roundabout);"

Be interested to see if people obey it along there.

Be interested to see if people obey it along there.

I'd be interested to see if anybody has ever acheived 20mph on that route :-)

The one missing ingredient then is enforcement, which is not where it should be in London yet.

Considering the current level of enforcement is somewhere near 'non-existent' it's rather a long way from where it should be.

I haven't seen any suggestion that the Met might change their current policy, which is that 20mph limits are none of their concern.

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...

for the trial areas the evening standard article indicated that speed would be monitored over the relevant stretch of road - digitally. I presume that means average speed cameras. and those in breach would get a £100 fine.

there is a news report on the 20 mph trials on the bbc website today.

i think speed enforcement is only one element of the matter.

the threat of there being cameras on the road is enough to start to ward off the illegal drivers.

these drivers are involved in more crashes than legal road users.

so if i am right and the illegal drivers do stay off the road it should lead to a decrease in crashes and therefore safer roads.

lets hope so anyway.

the bbc website story has a link to a further story about a 3 year dft research project into the pros and cons of 20 mph speed limits.

lets hope it leads to 20 mph in all built up areas - thereby safer communities for everybody.