Councils are starting to scrap 20mph limits as the schemes face a backlash amid revelations drivers are facing a record number of fines for offences in the zones. The Mail has more.
Local authorities in Highland and Flintshire have reverted some roads to 30mph in recent months with 300 applications to the latter to restore more to the higher level.
More than 216,000 fines for travelling between 20mph and 30mph were handed out by forces across the UK in 2023 – quadruple the number issued compared to 2018.
Enforcement varied greatly across the U.K., with two forces – Avon and Somerset and the Metropolitan Police – issuing 97% of the 700,000 tickets since 2018.
As public opposition to 20mph zones continues to grow, leading road traffic lawyer Mr. Loophole told MailOnline that they “actually make our roads more dangerous” as he called for a “dynamic” 20mph limit in certain areas at certain times of day.
Meanwhile driving instructors in a part of North Wales that has had the 20mph limits for two years said they have had very little effect on slowing down motorists.
And MailOnline readers have got in touch this week to reveal how they have been fined for breaking the 20mph speed limit by as little as 2mph in some cases.
The aggressive approach to enforcement in some areas in recent months has seen motorists in Britain face a record number of fines for 20mph offences last year.
But six forces with 20mph limits have not issued a single fine for 20mph offences – Lancashire, West Mercia, Cleveland, Humberside, Warwickshire and Lincolnshire.
Last September, Wales became the first nation to impose 20mph as the default on all restricted roads in a hugely controversial move.
But by November, Flintshire Council returned ten of its roads back to 30mph – including the A549 Mold Road, A549 Chester Road and A541 Denbigh Road.
The authority added at the time that the public would get the chance to suggest other routes that should be reverted.
And last week the council’s transport manager Anthony Stanford confirmed it had received 300 applications to change roads back to 30mph – a number which he said “continues to grow”.
Worth reading in full.
Meanwhile, south London residents have slammed a controversial new Low Traffic Neighbourhood which is causing such terrible congestion it is filling the air with fumes and causing buses to take nearly an hour to travel less than three miles. From the Mail.
The Streatham Wells LTN has caused “chaos” since it was first introduced last October, with residents, local business owners, and motorists branding it a “nightmare”.
LTNS were first introduced by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan in the hopes of reducing pollution, but local residents say the latest LTN has actually made the problem worse.
A local shop owner claimed she can now “taste the fumes” as she walks down Streatham High Road, and parents say their children are always late for school because of the congestion.
The traffic is so bad at peak times that buses are being diverted around and even through the zone and ambulances get stuck in the gridlock.
The road, part of the A23, is the main route from south London into Surrey.
Harriet De Wolff, 57, who owns a gift shop called ‘The Indigo Tree’ on Streatham High Road, said: “It is an absolute nightmare.
“It’s definitely not good for pollution. It’s made it worse.
“I can taste the fumes in my mouth as I walk down Streatham High Road. That didn’t use to be the case, but now, all the cars and buses stopped in traffic – it’s causing more and more pollution.
“People who live on this street will never be able to open their windows again.”
Also worth reading in full.
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Sadly my neighbourhood has only just got a 20mph zone so doubt they will be getting rid of it anytime soon. Most people ignore it and it’s not enforced so it has mainly been a waste of money to install the ugly signs – in a conservation area where property owners are severely restricted as to what they are able to do to their own properties. Then there are the humps which just cause inconvenience and damage and stop people from using the road efficiently according to the situation.
Time to scrap Councils and whilst at it the Mafia mob in Westminster.
Note that if there are plans to install or remove items like that towards the end of the fiscal year, they are likely to be squeezed in before 5/4, if there is any surplus in the annual budget, as they can’t carry forward any leftovers. Common practice in many local Councils around now.
In most of the EppingForest District, just now, doing 20 mph would be a great help. We have such heavy traffic and so many closed roads it is very time consuming to get through at all. One of the most irritating habits, no doubt not confined to this district, is utility companies digging holes, closing a carriageway and then doing nothing for days or even weeks. There seems to be no financial consequence.
Last evening I was delayed by a closed carriageway beside a hole in the verge. There was no one working so no danger to them and none to anyone else either – why the closed carriageway? Because they can!
If there’s a hole in the verge it may be a sign of damaged carriageway substructure or possibly a sinkhole, so vibrations from traffic passing very close by could be dangerous.
I expect it was closed as a precaution whilst investigations were carried out. And if those investigations had already been carried out, the engineers still have to report back and get sign off to re-open the carriageway.
I’ve never seen mention of emissions per mile for various vehicles driving at 20 mph and 30 mph. It’s as though they didn’t do their prep work.
Governments would regulate how we cut our toenails if they could get away with it and they would have a little receptacle for the clippings. ——All bureaucracies are the same. They only ever expand and grab more and more power and responsibility for more and more stuff. —-But as someone once pointed out “The best government is the one that governs the least” ——-Today governments govern the MOST
They are proliferating like proverbial rabbits hereabouts, which just happens to be one of the police force areas mentioned in the article. You can tell they’re new because they’re bright and shiny, not like other road signs which are so grubby and neglected you can’t read them. Nice little earner – though where the money’s going to is anyone’s guess, what with the potholes, 10% increase in council tax and severe cuts to social services.
“though where the money’s going to is anyone’s guess”
The council tax increases tend to be used to fund the pension schemes, particularly directors, the golden hellos and goodbyes and away days. The amounts troughed via these scams is horrendous. Oh, and not forgetting above inflation pay rises for senior staff.
You’re not wrong there, Hux.
When you count in all the costs of creating these LTNs (prior consultation with the police; legal creation; design; purchasing the actual signage; installation of the signage; possible signs actually on the tarmac carriageway; traffic management whilst the signs are installed) they have cost a small fortune.
And now they’re going to cost a small fortune to dismantle and reinstate normal traffic conditions.
It’s the equivalent of paying people to dig a hole and then paying them to fill it in again ….. but on a massive scale.