20mph speed limit ‘could prevent 1,000 injuries a year’
ASPEED limit of 20mph on roads in residential areas across Scotland would prevent nearly 1,000 injuries a year and save the NHS at least £56 million, according to a new expert analysis.
Reducing the default speed limit would result in 15 per cent fewer casualties, avoiding seven deaths, 123 serious injuries and 812 minor casualties annually. It would only cost about £5m to make the change, campaigners say.
Scottish ministers are under mounting pressure to make 20mph limit the norm in towns and cities, with 30mph limits the exception rather than the rule. Scottish Green MSPs are planning to introduce a bill at Holyrood.
Edinburgh, Fife and West Dunbartonshire are already committed to widespread 20mph limits. But other local authorities, such as Falkirk and North Ayrshire, have no plans for permanent zones.
Using conservative assumptions based on experience elsewhere, the campaign group 20’s Plenty for Us calculated the benefits of the lower limit in Scotland’s built-up areas. They conclude that it would result in more than 900 fewer injuries every year.
That would save the NHS £14m trying to treat those who die, £26m treating serious injuries and £16m dealing with minor injuries. The overall annual savings for the NHS in Scotland would be a minimum of £56m, the group says.
That compares to an estimated cost of £5m for the signs needed to introduce blanket 20mph zones in residential areas, they say. The new analysis follows a detailed study by the NHS in Wales examining the impact of replacing 30mph with 20mph limits. It concluded that six to 10 lives would be saved and 1,200-2,000 casualties avoided every year, saving the NHS between £58m and £94m annually.
“The 20mph limits bring massive public health economic savings,” said 20’s Plenty’s campaign manager Anna Semlyen. “Retaining 30mph is unethical when we know that so much risk and harm can be easily prevented.” The Scottish Greens argued there was “no logical reason” for retaining 30mph limits in built-up areas. “The time for a national switch has arrived, building on the progress made already in council areas such as Edinburgh and Fife,” said Green MSP and environment spokesperson Mark Ruskell. Living Streets Scotland, which represents pedestrians, called on the NHS in Scotland to press local authorities for 20mph zones. A spokesman for the government body Transport Scotland said: “We believe decisions on urban speed limits are best taken at local authority level so there are no plans to lower 30mph limit to 20mph on a national basis.”