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Islington Tribune - by TOM FOOT
Published: 21 March 2008

Ken Livingstone at Christopher Hatton Primary School with Amy Aeron-Thomas of Roadpeace, and road safety campaigner Tessa Devlin

Mayor calls for 20mph zones borough-wide

THE Mayor of London has urged Islington transport chiefs to rethink their decision not to introduce a new borough-wide speed limit.
Ken Livingstone launched a road safety campaign at Christopher Hatton Primary School in Clerkenwell on Friday calling for council’s to make all London’s residential streets 20mph.
Islington council chiefs rejected a motion to bring in the 20mph limit last year after Green Councillor Katie Dawson raised the idea.
He said: “That was a real mistake. The simple fact is there are hundreds of people alive because of this policy.
“Across London, 20mph zones have cut the number of people killed on our roads by 58 per cent, since 2000. The number of accidents have been cut in half in the same time.”
He added: “Research has shown that by making all residential streets 20mph zones we can make a huge difference to cutting further road casualties.”
He said nine out of 10 pedestrians will be killed if hit by a car travelling at 40mph, two out of ten at 30mph and one in forty at 20mph.
Mr Livingstone said the limits would be policed by “average speed cameras”, tracking all cars in a checkpoint style system.
He said the move would mean speed bumps would no longer be needed.
Cllr Dawson welcomed the mayor’s campaign, blasting her Liberal Democrat rivals as “absolutely stupid” for rejecting her plan.
She said: “I have absolutely no idea why they did not go for it. The only thing I can say is that they are absolutely stupid – 20mph, as a default limit, is likely to come in anyway now that Ken has started his campaign. It saves lives, it’s a simple as that.”
But Lib Dem Cllr Lucy Watt, deputy leader, said: “We did not feel that 20mph in main roads, where there are bus routes, was acceptable.
“That was the bone of contention.
“Two thirds of our roads are 20mph zones and part of our programme is to extend this to all residential roads in Islington.”

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