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Concern Expressed Over New 20MPH Speed Limit Proposal It was reported by local media earlier this month that Lancashire County Council intend to introduce a 20 MPH speed limit on all of the counties residential roads within the next 2 years at a cost of £9 million. Lancashire County Council claim that the project would address the issue of the thousands of people killed or seriously injured on its roads through speeding motorists and careless driving. However, the plans have been criticed by the RAC as “not being the answer to solving the problem of Lancashire’s danger roads.” Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation group, said: “This is a bold move but raises questions. Just how practical will the scheme be to police, and what will the true benefits be? It must be remembered that not all residential areas are alike with casualties amongst child pedestrians much higher in deprived neighbourhoods than in more affluent districts. The evidence suggests there is a strong case for targeting speed limit changes rather than introducing blanket cuts.” Quoted in local media, County Councellor Tim Ashton, who is in charge of highways, is said to want to tackle the critics ‘head-on’. He is quoted as saying that the scheme would be policed by neighbourhood road watch teams to make speeding ‘as taboo as drink driving’. Adding: “It is quite radical but we need to do something drastic to reduce the number of deaths on our roads. I think there will be a huge amount of support for what we are doing but if there are critics I will take them head-on. I have heard the arguments but speeding in residential areas is totally unacceptable. By dropping the speed limit we will certainly save lives.” Meanwhile, opinion has been expressed by the NW BTU H&S Co-ord’s John Southwell who told Unionsafety, that he is concerned that the speed limits will cause problems for engineers who are already under a lot of pressure to complete as many jobs as possible every day and not always given the appropriate time to do so. He said, “ I fear the engineers will fall foul of this as they go around with their ILM/Work-manager systems hanging over them.” Source: Unionsafety / Lancashire Telegraph
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