20MPH speed limits have ‘little impact’ on road safety, says new study
05 December 2022
Reducing speed limits from 30MPH to 20MPH has had ‘little impact’ on road safety, according to new research by Queen’s University Belfast, Edinburgh University, and the University of Cambridge.
The three-year study, which involved implementing 20MPH speed limits on 76 roads in Belfast, found that although there was no notable improvement in road safety, the volume of traffic in those areas reduced, with 166 fewer vehicles per week observed during the morning rush hour after the new speed limits were introduced.
This conflicts with data from The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents which shows that the risk of a collision resulting in pedestrian death is 5.5 times more likely at 30-40MPH than at 20-30MPH.
The data collected from the reduced speed limit roads in the study was compared with data from nearby roads on which the speed limit was not reduced. It was found that the new 20MPH limits led to minimal change in short or long-term outcomes for road traffic collisions, casualties, or speeding.
During the study period, traffic collisions reduced by 3 per cent in the first year, and by 15 per cent by the end of the third year, but these figures are not considered statistically significant. Casualty rates also reduced by 16 per cent in the first year and 22 per cent by the end of the third year.
In the first year of the study, the average speed of vehicles fell by just 0.2MPH. This figure increased to 0.8MPH at the end of the third year.
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