Bristol Tories call to end ‘mad’ 20mph plans

Party’s deputy group leader said a more targeted approach had to be taken to decide on where lower speed limits would be introduced

The deputy leader of Bristol’s Conservative councillors has said the mayor would be “truly mad” to plough on with introducing 20mph speed limits on the city’s roads.

Cllr Lesley Alexander called on George Ferguson to “urgently stop and assess” how effective the introduction of lower speed limits in Bristol has been before progressing with more areas.

Drivers in Bishopston, Cabot, Cotham, Clifton, Clifton East and Redland became subject to the new speed limit in January, with the mayor saying it would improve safety for pedestrians, particularly children.

Mr Ferguson cited research from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents which showed that while there is a 20% chance of fatal injury when someone is hit by a car travelling at 30mph this reduces to 2.5% if the car is travelling at 20mph.

But critics claim that in Portsmouth, where lower speed limits were introduced, there was an increase in deaths or serious injuries.

Cllr Alexander said a more targeted approach had to be taken to decide on where lower speed limits would be introduced and based on evidence of improvements to safety, not what she described as a “vague… emotive appeal to the alleged ‘civilising’ effects on motorists”.

“It was Einstein who defined insanity as ‘doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results’,” she said.

“In light of recent experience, the mayor would be truly mad to simply press on with a blanket ban whilst evidence is mounting that this policy is causing more problems than it purports to solve.

“Accordingly, Conservatives would like to see a more targeted approach taken to this issue – with speed limits only installed in places of obvious sensitivity or where there is local demand.

“Moreover, this decision must be based solely on safety considerations and not some vague, subjective notion or emotive appeal to the alleged ‘civilising’ effects on motorists being compelled to drive unnecessarily slowly on most of our road network.”

The councillor’s call though contradicts support from police, healthcare professionals and the headteacher of Colston Primary School.

Meanwhile, criticism of the safety record in Portsmouth has also been attacked.

An analysis for the Department for Transport of the UK’s first city-wide scheme – in which the limit was lowered from 30mph to 20mph on all residential streets in Portsmouth, at a cost of £500,000 – found that it had not brought any significant reduction in the number of accidents.

The analysis, carried out by the consultants Atkins in 2010, found that prior to the reduction in the limit, an average of 18.7 people per year were killed or seriously injured on the streets covered. After the reduction this rose to 19.9 per year.

Independent statisticians criticised the way that the figures had been calculated, and said the true reduction in speed could be smaller.

Professor Stephen Senn, an expert in statistics at the University of Glasgow, said: “The design of the report is very bad. Various statistical terms are used incorrectly and they’ve probably used the wrong statistical test.