20MPH Zones

7 December 2014

Orgainsed by Landor Links in partnership with 20's Plenty and hosted by Cambidge City council, the annual 20MPH Places conference will take place on the 12th March 2015 at the Cambridge Guildhall.

It will bring together presenters from local authorities, academic, NGO and consulting organisations.

Studies and presentations at the conference will include:

• Best practice implementation and engagement
• The real benefits for vulnerable road users, pedestrians and cyclists
• The opportunities to provide a foundation for active travel and improved public health
• How lower speed limits may be necessary in meeting Public Sector Equality Duty

Wide area 20mph limits are being adopted in most of the UK’s iconic cities and there is pressure for 20mph to become the national default limit where people live, work, shop and learn. The recognition of benefits from setting such a standard now go far beyond road danger reduction to include a more attractive public realm, public health, active travel, noise and emission reduction, traffic reduction and are complementary to so many other public realm interventions.

20’s Plenty for Us have a new briefing out on turning the vision for 20mph into reality.

There is also  20mph support from European Road Saftey body The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC). It has recommended that the EU adopts a series of standard maximum speed limits and says 20mph should be EU wide in residential areas and those with high levels of pedestrians and cyclists.

Evidence on The Road Safety Observatory shows that:

• Setting speed limits based on an assessment of the combined risk relating to the infrastructure, travel speeds, volume and mix of traffic by type (including vulnerable road users).
• Setting speed limits based on the safe system principles, meaning that speed limits are set to ensure that when crashes do occur, the resultant crash forces are survivable by most people.