𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The Department for Transport has given an update after new calls to reduce speed limits to 20mph outside all schools in England. Officials responded after an MP raised the issue amid a growing campaign.

Road safety charity Braks has called for 20mph speed limits to be implemented around all schools in the UK, saying parents report roads aren’t safe for their children to walk to school. In a new question Liberal Democrat Vikki Slade asked Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander: “If she will take steps to reduce speed limits on roads outside of schools to 20 miles per hour or below during school (a) hours, (b) arrival times and (c) collection times.”

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Transport Lilian Greenwood said under current regulations local authorities could decide to impose the speed limits – but said it was not currently supporting a mandatory change: “Local traffic authorities have the power to set 20mph speed limits where people and traffic mix, for example outside schools. They can also set enforceable 20mph limits that apply only at certain times of day, for example at school drop-off and pick-up times.

“The Government supports 20mph limits in the right places, particularly around schools or where walking and cycling levels are high. However, the Government does not support mandating a national change, as many roads are unsuited to 20mph by the nature of their function or geometry and could unintentionally reduce safety. Local authorities are best placed to decide where 20mph limits will work effectively based on local conditions and community needs.

“If, following consultation with local communities, local authorities decide to take such actions, they will have the Department’s full backing. The Government expects local authorities to work with local schools, parents, and communities to address concerns about road safety in their local area.”

According to new research published by Brake, parents and carers across the country say they don’t walk their children to school every day because roads are too busy (36%) and cars go too fast (25%). Compounding this, nearly two-thirds (64%) of parents say their school doesn’t have 20mph speed limits on all surrounding roads.

Official figures show that 11,580 children aged 15 or under were killed or injured on roads in the UK in 2021; an average taken from the last five years gives a figure of 13,503 [1]. This means that, on average, 37 children die or suffer injuries as a result of road crashes every single day. Provisional figures for 2022 show that 48 children died on roads in the UK, or one child almost every week.

Lucy Straker, campaigns manager at Brake, says: “Sadly, we know that Dropmore’s situation is being replicated across the country. We speak to lots of schools where teachers are doing everything they can to make the roads near their school safe, but ultimately they need support from their local council and decision-makers. Why do we have to wait until a child is killed before we act?

“We know that excess speed is a factor in about a quarter of fatal crashes [5], and the physics is pretty straightforward: the faster a vehicle is travelling, the harder it hits and the greater the impact. A crash at 30mph has twice the amount of kinetic energy as a crash at 20mph. Reducing speed saves lives.

“As schools up and down the country take part in Brake’s Kids Walk to shout out for safe places to walk, with slow traffic, we’re calling for roads around every school to have 20mph speed limits – and other measures to effectively reduce traffic speed – so children and their families can travel safely to and from school every day.”

On September 17, 2023, Wales became the first UK nation to make 20mph the default speed limit on restricted (residential and busy pedestrian) roads, replacing the previous 30mph limit. Designed to increase safety and encourage walking/cycling, it applies to roads with streetlights less than 200 yards apart

However the default 20mph speed limit is opposed by more than half of people in Wales, a BBC-commissioned poll suggested recently.The online survey of 2,086 people, conducted by Savanta, found 54% oppose the limit while 30% support it. Opposition falls to 49% for 16 to 34-year-olds.

A Welsh government spokesperson said the policy aimed to “save lives and reduce casualties”, with a report, external showing an 11.8% fall in road casualties in the 18 months after it was brought in.

The policy drew an immediate backlash when it was introduced in 2023, with almost half a million people signing a Senedd petition, external to scrap it.