Speed limits of 20mph are being seen increasingly on residential streets, and they’re popular: recent Department of Transport research showed 73% of people are in favour. Campaigning from groups like 20’s Plenty for Us and Living Streets has paid off, with support growing significantly.
Slower speeds are necessary to reduce injuries. But even if 20mph limits can be properly enforced – a big question – would this be enough? Do they, alone, create pleasant, liveable neighbourhoods, where lots of people will choose to walk or cycle? Do we want to see a steady stream of traffic in residential streets, even travelling at 20mph, or should our goals be more radical?
Recent guidance from Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (Rospa) and Public Health England states: “There is a road safety argument for reducing [motor] traffic volume, and there is also the potential to do so.” Slow-moving, large vehicles like lorries and buses can still kill because of their sheer weight.
And it’s not just large vehicles that are the problem. As Rospa points out, each car journey creates additional risk to others, even if lower speeds reduce that risk.
More cars on residential streets also means places which are less human-friendly, particularly for the old and the young, who struggle to navigate busy streets on foot and often have lower access to cars.
A recent study found the dominance of cars on residential roads has substantially damaged young people’s quality of life in urban and rural areas.
My colleagues at the Policy Studies Institute have studied the long-term decline in children’s independent mobility, including through cycling. They concluded that improving road safety and reducing car dependency is key to winning back children’s freedom to roam.
My own research found many parents might trust their children to cycle, but don’t trust drivers to take care around them. This is backed up by experience. Often parents have suffered scary incidents on routes which were chosen because they should be more quiet than main roads but are too often used as rat runs.
