CAMPAIGNERS have argued that a North Yorkshire County Council officer has failed to explain why a default 20mph speed in residential areas would be “inappropriate.”

The default 20mph speed limit for residential areas has been ruled out by North Yorkshire highways and police.

The limit would see a default 20mph speed limit in all residential areas in North Yorkshire, something the campaigning organisation 20s Plenty For Us says would reduce accidents and emissions.

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Before Christmas the group gathered outside the North Yorkshire County Council halls to appeal directly to the council to reconsider the decision.

Karl Battersby, the council’s corporate director of business and environment, said it was “not appropriate” to apply a country-wide 20mph speed limit.

He said: “A revised 20mph speed limit policy is currently going through its approval process following a review by a task group set up by the Transport, Economy and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

“This review, which reported its conclusions this year, heard from traffic engineers, road safety and public health officers, North Yorkshire Police and the 20’s Plenty campaign group.

“The task group resolved that it is not appropriate to apply a countywide default 20mph speed limit.

"It must be self-enforcing, without relying on police intervention.

"Introducing a 20mph speed limit where drivers do not already generally conform to lower speeds or where a 20mph limit may not be appropriate is likely to result in poor compliance and understandable local complaints and expectations of police enforcement.

"It may also lead to drivers failing to comply with a 20mph limit that is appropriate for road safety.

“Speeds of 20mph can be achieved through signs and road marking alone on roads with an average speed of 24mph or lower.

"Where speeds exceed 24mph, physical traffic calming measures, such as chicanes, speed cushions and speed tables, are necessary.

"These aim to encourage motorists to drive at a consistent speed. In practice, drivers often speed up and slow down between traffic calming features, increasing emissions and noise and negating any benefit of the lower limit.

“In villages and other rural locations, the alignment of the road, private driveways, side roads and the loss of on-street parking often present a challenge to installing traffic calming measures.

“Injuries resulting from collisions are a major consideration when assessing the need for a 20mph limit. We carry out annual and ongoing assessments of collision data recorded by North Yorkshire Police.

"The information includes the cause of the collision, for example speed or a failure to look, as well as those involved, for example drivers, pedestrians or cyclists.

“Over the last five years, the welcome downward trend in road casualties has continued. In 2016, there were 2,076 road casualties.

"In 2020, that had reduced to 1,352. During the same period, death from collisions reduced from 37 to 32 and those seriously injured from 369 to 204.

"Of these collisions, the vast majority resulted from driver or rider behaviour, such as failure to look, failure to judge another person’s path or speed, a poor manoeuvre or loss of control.

"Seven per cent were the result of excess speed and most of these occurred on 40mph to 60mph roads. While we appreciate that speed is a significant concern for the public, other behaviours by road users play a larger role in collisions.

“Should future assessments reveal locations with a history of speed-related collisions that would benefit from a reduced speed limit, including 20mph limits, such measures would be taken forward.

“Data on personal injuries from collisions informed the task group’s review and demonstrated that speed is not a major cause of collisions in North Yorkshire.

“North Yorkshire Police confirmed in the review that they do not support the countywide default application of 20mph speed limits.

"Default 20mph speed limits would also require significant investment, as well as future maintenance costs.

"We must focus our budget for road safety engineering on those locations with the highest risk factors and poorest collision records.

“Nevertheless, I acknowledge the benefits lower speed limits can bring to communities. We are working on a range of projects to support and encourage a shift to walking and cycling through the Government’s Active Travel Fund and developing local cycling and walking improvement plans to take advantage of future investment opportunities.

"Delivering these projects and developing plans includes investigating the need for 20mph zones to make routes potentially safer and more accessible and to encourage greater active travel.”

However, in a response to the council, Ian Conlan, from campaign group 20s Plenty for North Yorkshire, argued that other parish councils were not consulted on the policy and therefore did not have “their voices heard and their safety concerns were not addressed.”

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Mr Conlan says that Karl Battersby “fails to explain with facts” why a default 20mph speed limit is inappropriate, when the “policy demonstrably saves lives by reducing speed.”

He said: “26 million people in the UK live in authority areas that have approved default 20mph policies, using the same DfT guidance.

"If NYCC decisions are led by facts and figures, they would acknowledge the many large quality studies that consistently demonstrate 20-30% accident reductions.

"Note that including faster speed and main roads in default 20mph is associated with larger accident reductions, such as in Calderdale in West Yorkshire (30%).

"There is no requirement for physical calming (chicanes, speed cushions and speed tables) with mean speeds above 24mph in the DfT guidance.

"The latest Scottish Borders study showed the largest speed reductions (6mph) on the fastest roads without such measures.

"Every 1mph reduction in road speed is associated with a 6% reduction in accidents across numerous studies.

"Without physical calming, pollution levels are reduced according to the latest research modelling, with 25%+ reductions in CO2 and NOx emissions.

"Mr Battersby said a 20mph speed limit 'must be right for the location'. 56 Parish Councils have voted that default 20mph is right for their location, and 70% of the public in surveys support 20mph as the new normal to replace 30mph where people and motors mix.

"Mr Battersby fails to distinguish between the roles of a lawmaker (to set the speed limit) and the Police (to enforce the law).

"As with all laws, compliance and enforcement varies, but the purpose of the law is to set the expectation, and the Police use their experience, intelligence, and discretion to enforce 20mph as they do for 30mph, and target persistent offenders.

"Most of the reduction in speed is people obeying the law, following well placed signs and a good public engagement where the council consults and explains to the public why default 20mph is being brought in.

"Peer pressure helps build further support. New model cars will have speed limiters pegged to speed limits for each location from May 2022, rendering enforcement activity and physical calming increasingly obsolete.

"Contrary to Karl's claims, all accidents are speed related, because the driver fails to stop in time.

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"These can be reduced with lower speed limits: at 20mph your field of vision is wider so you spot hazards at the side of the road eg pedestrians and cyclists sooner, and your braking distance is considerably less, so accidents are either avoided or much less severe.

"Many schools have told us they support the 20s Plenty campaign because they recognise the need for children to be supported in walking and cycling their whole journey to school, not just outside the school gates, not just for safety, but because the exercise improves both their concentration in school and their general health.

"However this policy needs to support all vulnerable people too right across settlements, and not be hobbled by so many conditions: not a main road, not a busy road, not a fast road, not a road that hasn’t had many collisions just in the last 3 years, only near schools."

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