Green Party

New survey indicates more enforcement would be welcomed

Most people in the Marlpit area of Norwich have welcomed the new 20mph speed limit which the city council has introduced there.

In a survey for the Green Party, carried out by local member and former NOP pollster Andy Panes, 53% of respondents were happy with the scheme. Of those who thought it needed improving, the largest number called for better enforcement of the new limit by police officers or safety cameras. Fewer thought that traffic calming measures were needed and fewer still thought that more speed limit signs would be helpful. Only a small minority, 6%, were still against the new limit on principle.

Green Party councillors were instrumental in pushing for the 20mph limit in residential areas of Norwich on the grounds that pollution would be reduced and safety increased. Their enthusiasm for the lower limit has been vindicated by research published in the British Medical Journal last week which showed that road injuries in London’s 20mph zones have been substantially reduced. Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine compared accident data from the zones with similar areas outside the zones. They found that the number of children killed or seriously injured within the zones was reduced by half. Casualties as a whole dropped by 41.9%.

Of the Norwich survey, Cllr Rupert Read, Green Party spokesman on Norwich City Council for Planning, Transport and Economic Development, said:

“The majority of people in the Marlpit area are happy with the new scheme as it is, and that’s against Home Office expectations in the past that these schemes wouldn’t really work without back-up measures. But the number of people who think the scheme needs extra measures is not insubstantial and we will endeavour to act on that.

“It is also interesting to note that there has been something of a swing away from traffic calming solutions, which have been popular in the past. The great thing about the 20mph limits, potentially, is that they can make a difference without costing anything like as much as traffic calming, and without damaging vehicular suspensions.”

Notes:

Number of people interviewed: 432
Happy with the scheme as it is: 230 (53%)
Against the 20mph limit on principle: 27 (6%)
Think scheme needs improving/isn’t working well enough: 175 (41%)

Of these, 85 thought there needed to be police enforcement/cameras
81 thought there needed to be traffic calming measures
30 thought there needed to be more/bigger/lower speed limit signs

[Some people opted for more than one of these answers]

More on the London 20mph zones research: Click Here

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