Twenty is Plenty

The Devon County Council area highways committee (HaTOC) have voted to kill any chance of a 20 limit on Kingsway and other West Teignmouth roads. In a performance worthy of an episode of Yes Minister, councillors were given the impression that we must have 'speed calming’ and there isn’t any money for it (interesting to note the council did find £167,000 from road safety grants to spend on offices and furniture). The truth is whilst 20 mph SPEED ZONES do require some sort of traffic calming, this dosen’t have to be physical or expensive; 20 mph SPEED LIMITS can be introduced without any form of traffic calming. Speed Zones refer to a collection of streets with a 20 mph limit whilst Speed Limits are set for individual roads. Some local authorities have set 20 mph speed limits on a number of individual roads so creating a blanket coverage of residential areas with a 20 mph speed limit. Liberal Democrat Transport Minister, Norman Baker, has made changes in signage requirements which make it far easier and cheaper for local authorities to implement wide area 20mph limits for towns and villages. Many thanks to James McMurray for supporting me - putting Teignmouth before politics. Thanks also to the Kingsway residents who have been helping me get signatures and evidence for the ‘Twenty is Plenty’ campaign Professor Danny Dorling has shown that adopting a default speed limit of 20mph in residential areas is a driver for widespread social progress as well as a successful road safety policy.