Dr Alison Hill, Chair of cycling campaign group Cyclox, explains why 20mph limits can help to prevent fatalities in Oxford.

A 20mph speed limit saves lives. The likelihood of severe or fatal injury of a pedestrian struck by a driver is 17% at 20mph, 30% at 25mph and 47% at 30mph.

There are 7-10 times fewer fatalities if a collision occurs at 20mph compared to 30mph. Inevitably, people make errors of judgement on roads, but those errors are less serious at slower speeds.

As well as the reduction of fatal and serious injuries, 20mph limits bring many other benefits, creating safer streets for walking, wheeling and cycling, better community connections, noise reduction, and better air quality.

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A 30mph limit is no longer fit for purpose in cities, towns and villages, and we know that communities overwhelmingly support 20mph as the suitable limit for residential streets. There is global support for 20mph from the World Health Organisation and the United Nations General Assembly.

20mph is a major campaigning topic for Cyclox. So we were delighted that the national campaign group ‘20’s Plenty for Us’ held a conference on 20mph on October 20 at County Hall.

20’s Plenty has been campaigning for the last 15 years to make a speed limit of 20mph normal on streets where people and motor vehicles mix, and has been very influential, working with many local groups and local authorities across the country.

20’s Plenty chose Oxford for the venue because Oxfordshire is taking a very proactive approach in introducing 20mph in residential areas across the county.

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Oxfordshire was well represented at the conference. A number of active travel campaigners attended as did several County Council cabinet members, councillors and officers.

In the Oxfordshire Local Transport and Connectivity Plan that was approved in July 2022, policy 16a states: “We will promote 20mph as the default limit for roads through residential, villages and retail areas to ensure speeds are appropriate for the nature, environment and location.”

The county council is expecting to make 20mph the norm in residential and retail areas, and there is a programme to roll out 20mph over the next three years for towns and villages.

But there is a yawning gap in the Central Oxfordshire Travel Plan, which is being considered by cabinet on November 29: there is no mention of creating a 20mph city.

Some main roads already have 20mph as part of the Quickways implementation, notably Abingdon Road out to Weirs Lane, Iffley Road out to Church Cowley Road, Cowley Road out to Between Towns Road, Donnington Bridge Road, Church Cowley Road and Marston Road.

Many of our members have commented on how much better these roads are for cycling as a result of the speed reduction.

But several main roads do not have 20mph speed limits despite being residential.

Maintaining 30mph on the main roads makes those roads feel unsafe to people who walk, wheel and cycle. The argument for maintaining speed is weak. Motor traffic speeds are limited by traffic itself to 12-16mph across all times of day. For buses, the average is even lower, 8-10mph, as letting passengers on and off takes time, as well as stopping at junctions and pedestrian crossings. It seems unlikely that the introduction of city wide 20mph will speed up bus journey times.

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If main roads continue to be 30mph to protect bus journey times, then that means that other motor vehicles will travel at 30mph and over, as many drivers do not stick to the speed limit. Remember there are 7-10 times fewer fatalities if a collision occurs at 20mph compared to 30mph.

If the county council is serious about eliminating all deaths and serious injuries on our roads -the Vision Zero policy agreed in July - we must have 20mph across the city.

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This story was written by Andy Ffrench, he joined the team more than 20 years ago and now covers community news across Oxfordshire.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Andy.ffrench@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter @OxMailAndyF