Twenty is Plenty

Islington has become the first borough in the country to place a 20mph speed limit on all side roads.

Signs have been unveiled to bring in the new speed, which aims to help boost safety for pedestrians, cyclists and road users. The new limit also aims to improve quality of life for residents by reducing traffic speeds, and may also help reduce noise and air pollution.

Some of the first new 20mph signs were installed near Ashmount School, in the north of Islington.

The number of people killed or seriously injured on Islington's roads has fallen from 227 in 2001 to 75 in 2008, thought to be partly as a result of lower speeds.

No new traffic-calming or speed bumps are planned for the new 20mph limit, although if speed limits are consistently broken in some areas residents will be asked if they would like to see measures put in place.

• 20mph Limit

Are you pleased this measure has been put in place? Click below to tell us what you think.

Comments

[Susanne Waldschmidt]

Definitely in favour of 20 is plenty.
Islington has made a lot of progress in transforming itself into a pedestrian friendly borough. We need to continue to reclaim roads and streets as safe places for the majority of residents of all ages who choose to travel on foot.
My only concern is with a lack of enforcement, in the case of the minority of anti-social drivers, who blatently ignore ANY speed limits. This is after all a highly visible and potentially lethal crime.
I hope that Islington, unlike some councils, is not going to get rid of it's speed cameras and indeed will extend the scheme.

[CHRISTINE MABEY]

Very pleased with 20mph scheme - another step in making Islington a safer, more attractive borough particularly for the majority of residents who do not drive around.

Christine Mabey

[Stephanie Palmer]

Yes, I am delighted Islington has adopted this policy. It should make our borough a nicer, quieter, safer place to be in. I hope it will lead the way for other boroughs to do the same.
The signs that light up when people are speeding could be useful in problem areas.

[e church]

i first had experience of a 20 limit some years ago in amsterdam. i was amazed at how profoundly in made the streets feel a better place to be. well done, once people experience it i am sure they will not want to go back.

[Caroline Russell]

The general acceptance of the benefits of 20mph in terms of both safety and improvement to quality of life is very heartening. The challenge now is to civilise our main roads where most of the serious accidents happen. Perhaps Islington can lead the way with a main road trial of 20mph limits to gather data to establish any effects (positive or negative) on traffic flow so that evidence based decisions can be taken going forwards?

[Angela]

My experience of the 20mph limit coupled with speed humps in my road (Mayton Street N7) is that lorries - particularly the council cleansing vehicles and other council trucks - use the road as a rat-run to get to the Nag's Head and drive over the humps at speed, creating a huge amount of crashing noise and vibration, including very early in the morning on some days. So, not so good...

[Albert Cheeseborough]

Now that there is a 20mph limit, there's no need for speed bumps any more. Please can you remove all bumps on roads where there is a 20mph limit, and introduce some rigorous enforcement of the limit instead (cameras?). This would significantly increase the quality of life for residents who currently have to put up with revving engines and screeching brakes as vehicles continuously accelerate and then brake between humps. It would also reduce pollution with vehicles able to cruise continuously at a constant speed instead of having to accelerate and brake every 100 yards. Finally, it would stop those who live right outside the bumps having to put up with a shock wave going through their home every time a large vehicle goes over a bump.

[Archway Resident]

Just wish this were in force on main roads too.

[chris bulford]

Congratulations to the Council for this very imaginative step. Great to think that lives will be saved and injuries reduced with all the heartache that accidents bring to families. Nice to live in a Borough which is setting the trend on this most important of issues.

[Tim R]

We are so pleased. Our children will be so much safer. As will cyclists. It will also make parents more confident to let their kids cycle on the roads - getting them off the pavements and learning how to cycle in traffic.

[Steve King]

I have no problem with 20mph speed limit on the back streets and around schools shopping centres etc.

What gets me is the way of achieving it with speed bumps! There is a speed bump practically outside our bedroom! Ever heard a scaffolding lorry going over a bump a bit fast? Well, it clangs on the way up and it clangs on the way down! When I have to stand on a bus I am thrown around when the bus brakes and accelerates and if I am carrying shopping this makes my back ache!

Keep the 20mph limit, but let's get rid of the speed bumps! The bumps can be replaced by a combination of measures: (1) heavier fines (2) fixed speed cameras (3) mobile speed cameras (4) average speed cameras. the technology is here already, so let's ditch the bumps!!

[Tufnell Park Resident]

Really pleased about the limit. It will hopefully make it much safer for all our children in the borough. Would it be possible to paint the limit on the road so cars notice it more. At present a number of drivers ignore the limit.

[katy graham-harrison]

We have both been urging this measure for some time. We live parallel with Tufnell Park Road a main thoroughfare which has had a 20mph speed limit for about three years (largely ignored I might say). So it has always seemed a nonsense that people could then accelerate into our much ;quieter road, St George's Avenue, where children often play football and other street games in the summer. Well done Islington Council. Definitely a good move.

[Paul Thurlow]

Very good news:
introducing the limit is not the same as all drivers observing it though. also it won't stop what seem to be frequent accidents along my local stretch of Holloway Road, when pedestrians are hit by vehicles moving a lot faster than 20mph.... It is an important step forward though and very welcome.

[Steve Baran]

Very happy with the 20mph limit but as an occasional car driver I'd like to see the road humps removed because they damage cars, hinder emergency vehicles and make riding a bus very uncomfortable. Islington Council should support the initiative to use speed cameras to calculate average speed as a means of enforcing the borough's speed limits.

[Tom Raggett]

The Daily Mail reports on a trial in Portsmouth that showed a slight increase in death rates in 20mph zones. It also mentions a Swindon anecdote that accidents went down when speed cameras were switched off.

Only one trial, and not in London, so I question its applicability to Islington.

However, it would be good to see the equivalent data for Islington. Can the council organise this?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1317430/20mph-zone-increases-death-rates-switching-cameras-reduces-accidents.html

[Mike Fletcher, Traffic and Engineering, Islington Council]

Thanks for all your comments, and we’re glad to see that most of you are supportive of the new limit.
We’re sorry that people are having problems with speed bumps, but we don’t have the funds at the moment to remove them. And of course there is a good reason for all these measures. Over the past ten years - during which time we've been installing a range of traffic calming measures around the borough - there has been a drastic reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads - down from 221 in 2001 to 77 in 2009. We hope the new measures will reduce this number even further.