Aberdeenshire Council is introducing 20mph speed limits across communities on Monday, as part of a national roll out.
The Council says that it want to make Aberdeenshire’s towns and villages a better and safer place to live, work, visit and play. Slower speeds are safer for all, traffic speed is often too fast in our residential and local shopping streets. This can be a barrier to walking and cycling and increase the risk and severity of accidents.
Reducing traffic speed helps people feel more confident about using their local streets. It is safer for children to walk to school, while older people feel more able to travel independently and safely. Calmer road speeds lead to better health, less noise, more social interaction and stronger communities.
Not all roads will move to 20mph, even in towns, as certain strategic through roads and link roads will remain at 30mph or their current speed limit. A set of criteria has been drawn up to make the 20mph limits as effective as possible by applying them only where there is a need and they are most likely to be observed.
Roads identified as appropriate for a speed limit of 20mph should be ‘self-explaining’ and ‘self-enforcing’ to the road user. However, speeds will be monitored and evaluated and where a level of compliance is not being met wider speed management measures may be considered.
“By extending 20mph limits into town and village centres we want to reduce perceptions of road danger, encourage people to walk and wheel, and create more pleasant streets and neighbourhoods by providing a more equitable balance between different road user,” the Council said in a statement. “The 20mph programme will also contribute to the implementation of the Safe System opens in a new tab of road safety which is to reduce road deaths to zero by 2050.
“The Safe System recognises that people are fragile and make mistakes that can lead to collisions, but it should not lead to death or serious injury. Lowering the speed limit to 20mph is an example of the safe system in action. They reduce the risk of collisions and if a collision happens, when a driver is driving at 20mph, it reduces the severity of the collision.
“By lowering speeds, reducing the perception of road danger more people can choose to travel actively. Active travel offers improved health outcomes for individuals, improving physical and mental health through increased activity and improved air quality.”
View the streets being made 20mph.
(Pic: Welsh Government)
