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Clarkson speed test
• I HEARD Jeremy Clarkson on the radio today claiming that a 20mph speed limit makes roads unsafer.
I am a big fan of Top Gear, and also very much enjoy Brainiac with Jeremy Clarkson’s colleague, Richie Hammond. Both these programmes go out to test and experiment with cars, science and caravans.
In the spirit of both these shows I would suggest that if Jeremy Clarkson is so sure it is safer to be hit by a car at 40mph or 30mph than 20mph then maybe he should test it himself? I’m sure many people would be interested in the results. If he isn’t willing to do it himself I’m sure they could find another way to simulate the results.
Not only is 20mph a speed at which more people survive if hit by a car, but it’s also a speed at which fewer people get hit because the driver needs less time to stop.
In Islington, the introduction of 20mph zones has already reduced the number of people injured or killed on the roads from 174 to 81 since 2002.
The only people who suffer from a 20mph speed are drivers who are convinced they need to go faster. It would probably be better for everyone’s stress levels, including Jeremy’s, if we all just slowed down.
PAUL SYMES
Sotheby Road, N5
• I BELIEVE Katie Dawson’s proposal for a borough-wide 20mph speed limit would help shape London’s future as a more liveable city, but I recognise that not everyone agrees – yet… (Drivers face 20mph limit, November 23).
So I went along to this week’s council meeting expecting a lively argument. Sadly, despite all the council’s rhetoric about encouraging greater democracy, so much time is still spent blowing the politicians’ own trumpets for perceived successes, blaming everyone else for perceived failures and rabbiting on about vision and leadership that not a single minute was available to discuss a scheme which might have actually shown some vision and leadership.
When the vote eventually happened (without any prior discussion at all), we mere members of the public had no way of knowing what our councillors were even voting on, since – in the drive for improved democracy – the final content of any motion is determined by amendments to the original proposal, which can completely change the original intention; are only circulated at the very last minute; and apparently aren’t thought even worth distributing to the small numbers of hardy individuals who actually turn up to watch their council in action.
Not very empowering, and hardly designed to encourage people to come again. In this instance, I found out later that the Lib Dems apparently voted in an amendment effectively removing any idea of a borough-wide limit, and just congratulating themselves on the handful of small 20mph zones they have managed to introduce so far.
Before the meeting one of the executive members had congratulated me on what he called the Greens’ “publicity stunt”, but for those of us who don’t measure success purely in terms of publicity and column inches, Islington’s Lib Dems blew their opportunity this week to show some real vision and leadership – and make our borough a safer and more pleasant place to live.
ANDREW MYER
Islington Green Party
Horsell Road, N5
• A 20mph limit is claimed to lower the probability of death and serious injury in accidents, and reduce noise and pollution.
I am aware of evidence for the deaths and injuries claim, but not the other effects. I therefore asked the council for the evidence. I also asked what has been done to analyse the effect on traffic flow, and the cost of introducing the scheme.
I am informed that the second two points are under study. The reply on noise and pollution was surprising. The main expectation is that people will feel very much safer with a 20mph limit, so many will stop driving and walk or cycle instead: fewer cars, less pollution. No evidence has yet been advanced to support this claim, which seems to me to be optimistic.
I live in a 20mph zone. I do not feel safer than I did when it was 30mph, but I did not feel threatened by cars before. We have always walked whenever possible. Ironically, our only direct involvement in an accident was when my wife was knocked over by a cyclist on the pavement. We were not consoled by the fact that no pollution was involved.
A limit of 20mph in residential areas but not elsewhere – the status quo – seems to me to be the best approach until there is further analysis of the effects of any change. Too many changes are made without consideration for their consequences.
PETER BYE
Albion Mews, N1
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