Should Lancashire introduce a default 20mph speed limit in residential areas?
With Wales having recently introduced a new default 20mph speed limit in residential areas in order to increase safety and reduce accidents, we asked a couple of people in Lancashire whether they wanted to see something similar in the North West.
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00:00 With the new default speed limit in Wales introduced in order to avoid collisions, save
00:14 lives and reduce injuries, Road Safety Charity Brake say that studies show that the change
00:20 only makes journeys one minute longer on average whilst cutting collisions by 40% and resulting
00:25 in 10 fewer deaths per year.
00:27 We asked people if they wanted to see something similar introduced in Lancashire.
00:31 We're here with Peter and Michael, so one after the other, Peter, what do you make of
00:35 the idea of possibly introducing a 20 mile an hour residential speed limit in somewhere
00:39 like England?
00:40 Yeah I think it's probably a bit of overkill.
00:41 I think how it is at the moment isn't much of a problem.
00:44 The problem I would have is then if you're going to slow down traffic too much you might
00:47 actually create more of a hazard.
00:49 People trying to get past slower vehicles, overtaking them, can actually create more
00:52 of a problem on the road.
00:53 So I think one of those ones, if it's not broke don't fix it type of approach.
00:57 So I think wheels can trial it all they want and we can learn from that.
01:00 Fair enough.
01:01 Would you agree with that kind of thing Michael?
01:02 Pretty much, yeah.
01:03 I think to be honest we'll see how it goes first, then implement.
01:07 So because some charities have said that it adds one minute to the average journey, so
01:12 it's not that much, but it saves nine lives a year.
01:15 So do you think if the trial period showed that more success of that kind of nature,
01:19 you'd back it?
01:20 Do you think you'd be more inclined or you'd just still be like it's not broke don't fix
01:22 it kind of thing?
01:23 I think still that not broke don't fix it type of thing.
01:25 I think the same conclusion taken to its logical end would be if we didn't drive nobody would
01:30 die from a car accident.
01:31 So I think there's got to be an element of some people's health and safety needs to be
01:35 a look at.
01:36 And then we look at why would that nine people be involved in the roads and where has that
01:39 come from, is that something else which is a factor in it.
01:41 And I don't think the speed necessarily would be the only element of that because a drunk
01:45 driver can still do 20 miles an hour and there could be other reasons for those accidents
01:49 to take place.
01:50 So I think maybe more of a nuanced argument perhaps.
01:52 Yeah, Michael similar kind of views from you even though it's shown to reduce the risk
01:56 it's almost like well...
01:57 Shown to reduce the risk it might be worth looking at but does it actually reduce any
02:02 risk?
02:03 Do you think there's other measures we could take?
02:04 Does it actually increase risk?
02:05 Because the problem is you see it quite a lot at the moment with we've introduced more
02:09 traffic calming measures.
02:11 I've seen more drivers get irritable and try and do stupid things because of it.
02:16 Yeah, I suppose it's like cracking down on people as opposed to trying to find out the
02:20 root causes of these things in the first place.
02:22 Final question, lots of people are saying that if you introduce these kind of speed
02:25 limits another thing it'd be it'd almost like annoy people so much that they'd be like screw
02:29 that I'm not driving I'm gonna walk I'm gonna cycle I'm gonna do things like that.
02:31 Do you think that's like a good ambition but the wrong way to approach it?
02:36 The only way you get that is you have to do what they're doing up in Scotland which is
02:40 making really good available public transport which is reliable and on time.
02:45 Then yeah you could say you can't drive here because then they've got the facilities.
02:49 If you've got park and ride outside of every city centre, it's reliable consistently then
02:55 yeah fine make it so you can't drive in city centre but if you don't have that alternative
03:00 transport and it's not reliable because that's the other thing.
03:03 Buses around here are reliable sometimes and trains not the best.
03:09 Yeah definitely.
03:10 Do with price.
03:11 100%
03:12 Does it cost more than driving?
03:13 Yeah definitely.
03:14 Peter you kind of like...
03:15 I think the only thing I'd add on that is some days I'd love to do 20 miles an hour.
03:18 I've seen the road works around Preston.
03:19 It would be a luxury.
03:20 20 miles an hour is an ambition.
03:21 Yeah definitely.
03:22 Just in terms of like public transport then do you think that's the thing they should
03:26 be focusing on?
03:27 Like make public transport better and create that like alternative people that are actually
03:30 going to choose as opposed to be put off something else.
03:32 Yeah but even with that public transport has its own issues about not just the timeliness
03:35 but also the service.
03:36 Are there going to be unruly people at any given time?
03:39 Do you want to be doing that late at night as a lone person or a single female?
03:42 It's not tends to be what they tend to do so that you can't really replicate the security
03:45 and the safety that you feel within your own car and your own convenience more than anything
03:49 else.
03:50 So yes, whilst that is a valid argument I would say there's other factors which need
03:53 to be considered.
03:54 Yeah definitely.
03:55 I suppose it's one of those issues like so many others.
03:56 It's not black and white.
03:57 It's shades of grey.
03:58 Absolutely not.