The UK government must end the tyranny of speed tearing up communities by reducing the default urban speed limit from 30mph to 20mph.
At the heart of this campaign is the safety of our kids. Traffic is the biggest killer of teenagers, and the second biggest killer of primary age children [1], many dying on foot near their homes.
At 30mph, it takes twice as long to stop if a child runs out, compared with at 20mph [2].
If a child ran out three car lengths in front of a driver going at 30mph, the car would still be going at 27mph when it hit the child. This is the equivalent of a child falling backwards off a third floor balcony onto concrete. If the car had been travelling at 20mph it would have stopped in time.
There is no safe speed at which to hit someone. At any speed, they can be killed, often crushed under wheels. Daniel Evans was 14 when he was killed - outside his school. The speed limit was 30mph. The car wasn't thought to be over the limit. Daniel suffered a serious head injury and died.
The default 30mph limit needs to be reduced to 20mph so drivers have a chance of stopping in time, and children have a chance to live. Until this happens, more local authorities need to implement life-saving town and city wide 20mph limits.
Take action
Send an email to politicians asking for a default 20mph limit
Sign our petition (doc)
Take part in the Giant Walking Bus
Run a local campaign
Read more
20mph limits and why they are so vital
How authorities set speed limits
Campaign news
Zak the Zebra gallops into Ely to demand safer roads for kids, 10.10.11
Local MP wins national award for campaign for 20mph limits in memory of resident Hilda Laffey, 21.09.11
Bereaved family back campaign for safer roads for kids to mark five year anniversary of son’s death, 14.09.11
Ed Miliband backs campaign for slowing down to 20mph, 09.09.11
Safer routes are the key to getting one in five of us cycling, 27.05.11
Zak the Zebra gallops into Langley Vale to demand safer roads for kids! 09.11.11
Scientists reveal that traffic at 30 mph is too fast for children's visual abilities, 23.11.10
Children say slow down in Road Safety Week 2010, 22-28.11.10
Speech to Speed Congress 2010 by Mary Williams OBE, Brake CE, 13.05.10
Brake response to Department for Transport proposals to encourage more 20mph limits, 05.02.10
Department for Transport proposals to encourage more 20mph limits - comments invited by 05.02.10
Effect of 20 mph zones on road injuries in London - article published in the British Medical Journal, 14.09.09
Brake response to Department for Transport consultation on road safety compliance, 28.02.09
Department for Transport airs THINK! campaign TV ad, warning drivers to kill their speed, 02.02.09
Private Member’s Bill by John Leech MP calling for 20mph speed limits, 27.02.07
Department for Transport publishes Guidance for Local Authorities on Setting Speed Limits (circular 1/06), 08.08.06
Footnotes
[1] Deaths by age, sex and cause, 2008 registrations: England and Wales, Office for National Statistics, 2009 (xls)
[2] Stopping distances, The Highway Code, 2010
