New 20mph zones see thousands of fines
THOUSANDS of drivers have been hit with fines around the country after the introduction of new speed limit changes. Authorities, including Birmingham City Council, have brought in new 20mph zones which has led to some 32,000 fines being issued.
That change has caught drivers out with the move being criticised by campaigners like motoring journalist, former Top Gear presenter, Quentin Wilson, said : “Blanket 20 mph limits will discredit other road safety initiatives and alienate motoring consumers.”
A number of pilot 20mph speed zones have been introduced across Birmingham with plans to introduce a lot more across the city.
In a report entitled 20mph speed limits: Slower is safer, from February this year, the council reported on three years of monitoring reductions to see its impact on speeds, fatal crashes, those causing serious injuries and other collisions.
The report looked at 20mph zones in the City Centre, inside the ring road, Central East including Washwood Heath,
Bordesley Green and Small Heath and Central South including Balsall Heath, Sparkbrook, Moseley and Kings Heath introduced in 2016.
The council said its policy proposal was that ‘all residential roads should be 20mph’ to improve road safety, particularly for pedestrians.
The introduction of the new speed limits saw the average speed of 85 per cent of vehicles, fall from 27.9mph to 25.7mph, a 2.2mph drop in the City Centre pilot area.
From 27.1mph to 26mph in Central South, a 1.1mph drop. But down just a fraction, 0.2mph, in Central East from 25mph to 24.8mph.
The report found accidents resulting in a death or serious injury fell from 171 for the three years before the scheme to 158. And the number of casualties for the same period fell from 225 to 204 in those pilot area.
The city centre saw collisions resulting in death or serious injury fall from 58 for the three years before the scheme to 47 for the three years after it.
And casualties drop from 70 to 65. All collisions were down three per cent.