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TfL plans 20mph speed limit in Congestion Charging Zone

Meanwhile, the City of London plans to go even lower in the Square Mile - 15mph

Transport for London (TfL) has announced proposals to make 20mph the default speed limit for the “red route” roads it controls inside the Congestion Charging Zone the centre of the capital – while the City of London is set to go even lower, unveiling plans last week for a blanket 15mph limit in the Square Mile.

TfL, which has today launched a consultation on the proposed 20mph limit which it plans to implement next year, says that speed is a factor in 37 per cent of collisions in London in which someone is killed or seriously injured.

Roads that would be subject to the speed limit, which forms part of Mayor Sadiq Khan’s Vision Zero strategy, include ones that are heavily used by cyclists but have no protected cycle lanes, such as Millbank and Borough High Street.

Mayor of London Khan said: “Each year more than 4,000 people are killed or seriously injured on London’s streets.

“The evidence is clear – lowering speeds on the most dangerous roads saves lives. The proposed 20mph speed limit on TfL roads within the Congestion Charge Zone and at Aldgate Gyratory will protect people walking and cycling and other road users in the busiest part of the capital.”

TfL also said that within the next five years, it plans to bring in the 20mph speed limit in other roads that it is responsible for in boroughs outside the centre, some of which have already implemented it on their own roads.

Jeremy Leach, London campaign co-ordinator for 20's Plenty for Us, commented: "We are delighted to see TfL introducing 20mph limits on all the roads it manages in central London.

“With 20mph limits now firmly established across the capital and the impact on casualties of getting maximum speeds down to 20mph well known, every effort must be made to ensure drivers comply with the new lower limits.

“The combination TfL proposes of 20mph limits coupled to changes in road design and new traffic calming, greater police and camera enforcement plus the opportunities that speed limiting technology now offers is starting to deliver safer streets in London especially for all those who are walking and cycling," he added.

The consultation, which remains open until 10 July, can be found here

Last week, the Court of Common Council – the most senior decision-making body of the City of London Corporation – voted to introduce a 15mph speed limit on its streets.

The measure, which is subject to government approval, would see it become the first local authority in the UK to bring in such a low speed limit across its territory.

It says that the strategy would prioritise the needs of pedestrians, who account for 90 per cent of journeys in the City.

 It also says that cycling has increased in the City of London by 292 per cent since 1999, and that in the past two decades the number of motor vehicles has halved.

Alastair Moss, chair of the City of London Corporation’s planning and transportation committee, said: “The City of London is one of the most well-connected parts of the UK, with 15 Tube stations, seven Tube lines, eight mainline stations, multiple bus routes and a fast-evolving bicycle network.

“We are working tirelessly to support the 513,000 workers that commute to the Square Mile every day, and to deliver the forward-thinking City that Londoners want to see.

“These radical plans will ensure the continued success of not just the City, but wider London and the UK as a leading global business and cultural destination.”

It is planned to implement the 15mph speed limit from 2021/22.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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14 comments

Avatar
Rick_Rude | 4 years ago
0 likes

At 15mph i would be breaking the law every day as a cyclist. People can just about run that fast, not a lot of people but some. 20 is as low as this needs to go or just ban motorised transport in those areas.

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Awavey | 4 years ago
2 likes

Well hopefully TFL will do a better job of enforcing it than most, as these experimental cameras spotted 2000 drivers in just 1 week travelling over 27mph, 9 were captured at between 42-47mph...in a 20mph zone https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/politics/more-than-2-000-spotted-speeding-b...

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jh27 replied to Awavey | 4 years ago
0 likes

Awavey wrote:

Well hopefully TFL will do a better job of enforcing it than most, as these experimental cameras spotted 2000 drivers in just 1 week travelling over 27mph, 9 were captured at between 42-47mph...in a 20mph zone https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/politics/more-than-2-000-spotted-speeding-b...

 

My understanding is that 20mph zones are not enforceable - the limit remains the national speed limit for a built-up area i.e. 30mph.  20mph limits are enforcable, but they are used less often as repeater signs are required to advise of the limit.  I still follow them mind (unless I'm cycling), much to the annoyance of the queue of drivers behind me.  If I'm cycling, and I consider it safe, and it is clear, I will often let my speed build up on the downhill so that I can get up the inevitable uphill with less effort (as much as I might like to create tailbacks).

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hawkinspeter | 4 years ago
3 likes

@Fluffy - my favourite conspiracy theory about the media fixation on knife crime is that it's a perfect way to increase stop and search powers.

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Mungecrundle replied to hawkinspeter | 4 years ago
0 likes
hawkinspeter wrote:

@Fluffy - my favourite conspiracy theory about the media fixation on knife crime is that it's a perfect way to increase stop and search powers.

Given that most people die in bed, I'm just grateful that knives are still the weapon of choice, just imagine the carnage that would result from pillow fights.

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hawkinspeter replied to Mungecrundle | 4 years ago
1 like

Mungecrundle wrote:
hawkinspeter wrote:

@Fluffy - my favourite conspiracy theory about the media fixation on knife crime is that it's a perfect way to increase stop and search powers.

Given that most people die in bed, I'm just grateful that knives are still the weapon of choice, just imagine the carnage that would result from pillow fights.

That's why I sleep in a tree - almost nobody dies that way.

(Similarly, the number of road collisions involving cyclists in squirrel suits are negligible)

 

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Rick_Rude | 4 years ago
0 likes

Needs to put more effort into vision zero stabbings rather than doing 15mph. Or maybe the idea is at 15mph it's easier for someone to stab you?

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Organon replied to Rick_Rude | 4 years ago
1 like

Rick_Rude wrote:

Needs to put more effort into vision zero stabbings rather than doing 15mph. Or maybe the idea is at 15mph it's easier for someone to stab you?

Knife crime might be outside TFLs remit. Unless you want to see the OCP model implemented in London.

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FluffyKittenofT... replied to Rick_Rude | 4 years ago
5 likes

Rick_Rude wrote:

Needs to put more effort into vision zero stabbings rather than doing 15mph. Or maybe the idea is at 15mph it's easier for someone to stab you?

 

Your weak attempt at a petrol-head/UKIPpy troll actually brings up a lot of issues I've been wondering about.

 

 I'm having a hard time squaring the media furore over the topic with the actual data about total murder rates .  The London murder rate is quite low by historical standards.  Way lower than the 70s, 80s or 90s, and just a bit higher than the early 2000s.  Furthermore it's been constant for most of the last decade.

 

I was thinking it's certainly possible that stabbing murders have displaced other forms of fatal violence.  People are stabbing more and clubbing-over-the-head less, or something like that.   And perhaps A&E performance has improved in a way that makes attacks not involving knives less likely to be fatal?

 

But then I found these figures, which seem to show, at least up to 2017, the knife murder rate wasn't historically unusual either.

 

https://www.london.gov.uk/questions/system/files/attachments/Appendix%20...

 

But there might have been a big uptick in knife murders over the year or so since then.  Though if that is the case, it seems possible to me that the media hysteria has been putting the idea in criminal scrote's heads - why else would there be a sudden leap in just the last year?   I wonder if it could be shown that the media attention actually preceded any rise in stabbings?

 

The whole issue needs more analysis than our shouty, hysterical, fad-driven media ever seem to give it.  I don't trust anything they tell me, again-and-again even supposedly 'quality' journalists appear unable to understand statistics or inclined do any research.  Look at how they suddenly noticed cyclists being killed a few years ago, and all we got was a victim-blaming police operation, and then the media forgot all about it again.

 

And it's obvious there are a lot of non-Londoner white people out there who are predisposed to believe London _must_ be a lawless hellhole simply because it has non-white people in it (when to me it's the country outside the M25 that appears a bit scary, complete strangers say 'hello' to you - disturbing behaviour)

 

In any case, the number who die from knives in London is still a fraction of those who die from motorised vehicles, something like 100 vs 3000, I think.  So it's clear where most attention should be.  And police funding is more down to central government than the mayor anyway.

 

  Actually it's not clear the mayor has much power over anything really (and Khan seems reluctant to use what little power he does have, in building cycle infrastructure).

 

 

 

 

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Organon | 4 years ago
2 likes

Thats *only* 32kph. I'd ride in the middle of the lane everywhere.

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Municipal Waste | 4 years ago
6 likes

I want to be the first person who gets a speeding fine for running in the 15mph limit area.

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Bmblbzzz | 4 years ago
4 likes

Surely these are ordinary speed limits, so they only apply to motor vehicles? For them to apply to cyclists, horse riders, etc, there would have to be a special mention in the relevant TRO. 

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ktache | 4 years ago
3 likes

Good, just good.

I would like to correct TfL though, speed is a factor in all collisions, stationary objects tend not to collide.

I am still wondering if the 20mph limit, and indeed the excellent 15mph limit in the city, would apply to non-mechanically propelled vehicles (us)?

The Highway code has a table for NSLs for various motor vehicles, but the bit about 20 limits is somewhat ambiguous about to what vehicles it applies to, being locally imposed.  It would be good to have some opinions...

I would, of course quite happily abide.

Oh, and there will have to be some enforcement at some point.

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easya1ex replied to ktache | 4 years ago
0 likes

ktache wrote:

I am still wondering if the 20mph limit, and indeed the excellent 15mph limit in the city, would apply to non-mechanically propelled vehicles (us)?

No, I don't think so. Not without a bylaw in place. Also, the table in the highway code does not include bicycles.

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