Police object to Southwark’s 20 mph speed limit plans - Includes Pedal Cycles!

[Origamist]

Full article: http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/7716

Southwark Council is poised to approve a 20 mph speed limit on nearly every road in the borough, despite objections from the Metropolitan Police and the Freight Transport Association.

Borough Road is one of the roads where the speed limit will be cut from 30 mph to 20 mph
Cllr Mark Williams, Southwark's cabinet member for transport, is expected to formally reject the seven objections to the council's published proposals for a 20 mph speed limit on all roads controlled by the authority.

Roads affected by the proposal include Southwark Bridge Road, Borough Road, Harper Road, Grange Road, Mandela Way and Long Lane.

"Introducing speed limits where traffic speeds are too high places an unrealistic
expectation to enforce on the Metropolitan Police," wrote ... http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/7716

In a break with the national convention that speed limits only apply to motor vehicles, the council plans to include horse-drawn carriages and bicycles in the scope of the reduced speed limit by referring simply to 'vehicles' in its proposed traffic management order.

Responding to a comment from a member of the public that it was ... http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/7716

 

[Rooster1]

Agree that the bikes should not exceed the speed limit either but not only will cyclists have to have an accurate speedo, it will mean cyclists looking at the speedo rather than the road.

 

[Markymark]

Agree that the bikes should not exceed the speed limit either but not only will cyclists have to have an accurate speedo, it will mean cyclists looking at the speedo rather than the road.

Why would cyclists need a speedo any more than say a driver needs an alcohol breathalyser to be under the limit?

 

[Hacienda71]

Bet you are glad you are up North now or you would be getting speeding tickets everyday!

 

[Beebo]

I agree, 20mph is fairly fast for London cyclists, you dont want to be overtaking cars when they are doing 20mph anyway.
The speedo thing is a bit tricky, but as @0-markymark-0 says, you should know how fast you are going anyway. I dont have any speedo on my bike and cycle through Greenwich Park every day, which has a 20mph, if I am catching up the cars then I know I am going too fast.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Agree that the bikes should not exceed the speed limit either but not only will cyclists have to have an accurate speedo, it will mean cyclists looking at the speedo rather than the road.

Eh? Why would a cyclist need to spend any longer looking at their speedo than a car driver?

 

[J.Primus]

Eh? Why would a cyclist need to spend any longer looking at their speedo than a car driver?

Lack of a dashboard that is in your eyeline whilst looking at the road?

 

[CopperBrompton]

A car dashboard isn't in your eyeline whilst looking at the road either - in both cases, you glance briefly down from time to time. If you can't do that safely, you have bigger problems than risking a speeding ticket.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

So the police object to the proposed speed limit because it's lower than what the motorists currently do? Geeeez...

 

[J.Primus]

Do councils have the power to change how the road traffic act is interperated anyway? Seems like changing who speed limits apply to is the sort of thing parliament does.

There is a council estate near me with a 5mph limit are they going to have police ticketing joggers?

 

[hoski]

A car dashboard isn't in your eyeline whilst looking at the road either - in both cases, you glance briefly down from time to time. If you can't do that safely, you have bigger problems than risking a speeding ticket.

The dash in my car is much closer to my eyeline than my handlebars. Also, the speedo in the car is much larger and easier to read... I can't envisage an effective way of replicating the same for my bike.

 

[J.Primus]

A car dashboard isn't in your eyeline whilst looking at the road either - in both cases, you glance briefly down from time to time. If you can't do that safely, you have bigger problems than risking a speeding ticket.

Maybe it varies from car to car but mine is.

 

[CopperBrompton]

So the police object to the proposed speed limit because it's lower than what the motorists currently do?

No, they're objecting because it's more than 20% lower than the current average speed, and thus falls outside the guidelines for a new speed limit.

 

[CopperBrompton]

The dash in my car is much closer to my eyeline than my handlebars.

Mine too, on the Brompton (not on the trike), but I do not find it in any way challenging to safely check my speed on the Brompton.

 

[w00hoo_kent]

So the police object to the proposed speed limit because it's lower than what the motorists currently do? Geeeez...

Not really, no. The police object to lowering the speed limit because it's all a bit arbitrary and they don't have the staff to police it because of cuts. There's little point putting in yet another unpoliced 20mph zone as all it does is teach people that it doesn't matter if they break the speed limit or not. As for whether that area needs to be 20, I'm there often enough and don't see the 30mph limit it has now as being any sort of issue. When traffic is heavy it's not doing that anyway, later at night there isn't much there so it doesn't make much difference and there are plenty of crossing options.