REDUCED speed limits of 20mph on almost all of Oxford’s residential roads will take effect from September 1, County Hall said.

Work on Oxford’s 20mph speed limit will begin in three weeks when council officers begin erecting 1,450 new limit signs as part of the £233,000 scheme.

However, the majority of Oxford’s radial routes, such as the Botley, Woodstock and Iffley Roads, will keep their 30mph limits, as will the adjoining areas of North Hinksey and Botley.

Paul Cullen, founding co-ordinator of the Life begins at 20 campaign group said: “September 1 cannot come soon enough.

“We’ll be lobbying for an extension of it into the bus routes and main roads once its success has been proven.”

The council believes the move will help improve road safety as there had been two fatal, 81 serious and 583 slight accidents on the roads included in the scheme between 2006-08.

Colin Prickett, 58, a driving instructor for the AA in Headington, said: “From September onwards it is going to take people longer to get in and out of Oxford and that will mean more cars in the city at any one time, causing hold-ups and congestion.

“It is going to cause chaos.”

Last night, Gill Wootton, the head of roads policing at Thames Valley Police, said they would only enforce 20mph speed limits on roads engineered with appropriate traffic calming measures and it would seek to educate drivers first, rather than fine them.

l Have your say on the 20mph limits at oxfordmail.co.uk