Letters & Opinion
LETTER: Ins and outs of the 20mph speed limit
Limits are meant to single out people driving in a manner that is genuinely dangerous
James Hosking Tytherington
Updated 15:00, 9 FEB 2018
It is incorrect to refer to B&NES's 20mph speed limits as "20mph zones". A 20mph zone is a road that by design is difficult to exceed 20mph on, and they do not require repeaters. Most of the roads in Bath just have sign-only 20mph posted limits.
Many people might be confused as to why dropping the speed limit by 10mph hasn't resulted in a sudden and dramatic drop in serious accidents.
The trouble is most people don't really understand speed limits, how and why they're set, why you can't just set them really low and automatically expect the roads to be a lot safer, and most crucially, how much, or should I say, how little an effect it has on actual traffic speeds. And that's where the problem lies: people think because someone stuck some signs up, that road will be massively safer, but they're not, and that creates complacency.
Should motorists who speed at 1mph above limit be penalised?
The speed limit is not advisory as to the speed you should travel, it's not meant to be a target, it's an absolute legal maximum.
Generally controlling the speed most people drive at was never the intention behind the introduction of speed limits. I know many people want to use them in that way, but it doesn't work, and this was realised in the 1920s. It's more likely that you end up bringing the speed limit into contempt.
With the absence of any speed limits most drivers should not feel safe to exceed that speed, if they do then either the limit is wrong, or the design of the road is.
There are 13 20mph zones in Bath
With that in mind, it's really important that the speed limit is not some trivial speed that's easily obtainable, let alone counter-intuitively slow.
If you want to target people genuinely going fast you make it a lot more difficult if the speed limit is set too low. Speed limits are meant to single out people driving in a manner that is genuinely dangerous, so if the limit has been set below even the mean average speed on a road, it makes it increasingly difficult for the police to single out only the kinds of people who want to treat roads like race tracks.
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