THE reduction in minor crashes in Oxford since the introduction of 20mph zones is certainly welcome news.

There was a great deal of scepticism before their introduction four years ago with questions raised, quite rightly, about whether the roads would become safer or whether is was just a trendy vanity project by the county council.

In the early days the scheme was not well-served by Thames Valley Police’s refusal to go out and make any sort of effort at enforcing the reduced limits.

But that has changed and speed checks are now being carried out.

Today we can report that there has been a substantial fall in the number of minor accidents, although the number of fatal and serious injury crashes has remained (oddly) exactly the same over the 46 months since.

Those figures may be seen as justification for that initial scepticism over the switch but there needs to be some context to this: no one ever claimed that cutting the speed limit to 20mph would stop rat-runners from zipping down residential streets.

The figures show, though, that there were 119 fewer minor accidents – a fall of 18 per cent – and that is a significant drop in anyone’s book.

Of course, it cannot yet be said with absolute certainty that the city is a safer place to drive because of this one measure (and many may disagree given their own motoring experiences).

But the inference can be drawn that the reduction has made people a little more aware of their speed and given them a little more reaction time.

We’re not advocating blanket reductions elsewhere in the county but no one should thumb their nose at fewer accidents on our roads.