20mph in the city? You’ll be lucky to go any faster

INTRODUCING a 20mph limit in Edinburgh reduced the average speed by only 1.9mph, it was revealed yesterday.

Council chiefs in the capital are spending £2.2million cutting the limit throughout the city because they say it will reduce accidents and encourage more people to walk and cycle.

But a trial on the South Side of Edinburgh found only a small difference because motorists were already averaging well below 30mph.

Drivers clocked an average of only 22.8mph before the limit was lowered, a figure that stuck at 20.9mph in the 20mph zone.

Phil Noble, a senior officer from City of Edinburgh Council involved in the trial, said: ‘Looking at 28 sites across the area and the speeds before and after the limit was introduced, the average speed was reduced by about two miles per hour.’

He added: ‘In certain streets in the area where the limit stayed at 30mph, the average speeds also

‘New limit will cut casualties’

fell but by only a small amount – just less than 0.7mph.’

The council is rolling out the lower limit across the city. The year-and-a-half long programme covering 80 per cent of roads began this month.

Mr Noble insisted the scheme would be beneficial.

He said: ‘For every 1mph reduction in average speed, you can expect a 5 per cent reduction in causalities.

‘So that should achieve a 10 per cent reduction in casualties if you look at what has happened elsewhere.’ Asked if the trial had seen a drop in casualties, he said he did not have the figures to hand.

He was speaking at a government-sponsored event held in Edinburgh by the campaign 20’s Plenty For Us.

The group urged the Scottish Government to cut the national limit from 30mph to 20mph.

Glasgow City Council has a 20mph limit in the centre, while the local authority in Dundee is considering a similar scheme.

But a spokesman for the AA said of the trial: ‘It makes the question mark over cost effectiveness even bigger.’