£34k going to surveyors for 20mph trial

Perth and Kinross Council is going to pay surveyors over £34,000 to help its staff trial 20mph speed limits at five locations across the region in the coming months.

The local authority has hired Cumbernauld-based company Streetwise Services Ltd to evaluate the effectiveness of the lower limits and report their findings to officials.

A contract award notice published online explains:“PKC is undertaking a 20mph speed limit trial to determine the effectiveness of 20mph speed limits.

“It is proposed that 20mph speed limit trials be carried out at five new locations across the PKC area, each of which has different characteristics [which could] affect the effectiveness of a 20mph speed limit.

“These will be a village, school site, residential core and village, including [an] A class road. These different characteristics will allow comparison of the trial’s results to be made in order to gauge the suitability of a 20mph speed limit.

“The trial will last up to 18 month[s] and will be the first phase of helping to inform the development of a potential future 20mph strategy for Perth and Kinross.

“In order to assess the trial, we are required to undertake several temporary traffic counts at numerous trial locations.

“The counts will provide important information on vehicle speeds, traffic volumes, classification and direction of traffic.

“This will allow us to examine how different factors affect the effectiveness of a 20mph speed limit.

“Therefore, PKC would like temporary traffic counts to be carried out at the locations identified.”

According to the contract award notice Streetwise Services Ltd was the only company to bid for the work.