to think twenty miles an hour is perfectly fast enough for a built up area

[twentyisplenty]

Our dog was knocked down and killed by a van last wednesday. Very sad, devastating for us as a family, BUT thank goodness it wasn't a child... I don't think the van was going ridiculously fast, maybe 35 miles per hour, but if he'd been travelling at 20, perhaps she would still be alive? For a long time, I've been of the opinion that twenty miles per hour is quite fast enough for residential areas, and I always drive slowly in such areas. There is a nursery across the road from where I live, and many parked cars at the sides of the road, the roads are narrow in places, and yet I frequently see vehicles travelling well in excess of 30 mph. Am I being unreasonable to think the local council should do something about this as they have in other areas? I've been told by members of the council planning dept that a 20mph limit will be 'rolled out' to our area in 'perhaps a couple of years'. But how many children/pets will be killed/injured before it happens?

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YANBU. I'm so sorry for your loss. We lost our beautiful cat in July to a speeder that didn't even stop after he hit him.

Our road is a 20mph zone and cars and vans still rocket down at 40. Unfortunately, assholes will be assholes no matter what. I too am at a loss as to what to do about it.

Whilst I understand your distress, I don't think this is realistic. If there were anything in this vein that I'd like to see, it's measures to endure people drive with caution in areas where pedestrians are. I am more concerned that so many people drive at 35 and 40mph and more in these areas.

A 20 mph limit could lead to frustrated and impatient driving at other points which is a big risk to others.

To be honest, the real issue is the time pressure many of us are under today, and pressure in general. I think this life reality makes poor drivers of us all at times.

I am sorry you lost your beloved pet and understand your wish for something to be done to prevent similar tragedy.

YANBU. Its a 20mph zone near where I work. I was doing just under 20 when a toddler ran out from between two parked cars. At 20 I was able to stop just in time - at 30 I would have hit him, no doubt in my mind. I felt sick enough after the near miss.

Oh, how awful, I'm so sorry.

It is so hard to know from your OP - was the driver at fault? And was s/he speeding, or do you just think a reduction in the speed limit would solve these problems?

Sadly, I don't believe dropping speed limits to 20 will eliminate bad drivers. It makes the severity of collisions much more serious, but IMO the real issue is people who're not safe on the road - they won't magically become safer because the speed is lower. They'll just think it is safer and be lulled into a false sense of security.

Thank you for your replies. I think our frustration is that other areas have the 20mph zones, while we don't and there's no sign of anything happening anytime soon. The dominance of vehicles in the area means our children don't have anywhere safe to play, and it's time to take the streets back and make them safe for everyone. Accidents will happen, no matter how careful we all are, but it's a wel known fact that speed kills, and if we all take a little more care at least deaths and serious injuries on the road will be fewer. And for the time thing, I know we're all in a rush these days, who isn't? but how much time do we really save? a few seconds? Many a time I've seen idiots overtake and speed past me, only to catch them at the next set of traffic lights...

Sorry for your loss.

Reducing the posted speed limit isn't going to stop this sort of problem - if the van driver was going 35mph, he was already disobeying the current speed limit; chances are, if the limit was 20 he would still have travelled at 35.

If speed limits are simply lowered, lowered, lowered, many drivers will discount them as ridiculous and ignore them. Ever been on an area (e.g. car park) where it states the limit is 5mph? Have you ever complied with that speed limit? I would seriously doubt it, as speedometers often don't register speeds under 10mph (and wouldn't be accurate enough to allow you to meet it with any certainty).

Simply dropping the speed limit will not have the desired effect; what is needed in this case is traffic calming.

Oh, that's really difficult. So yours is the lone non-20 in the area? I can imagine you must end up with all the idiots deciding to take a quick zoom down there.

How does the council justify keeping it above 20 if everywhere else is 20?

Whilst I am sorry for your loss, being a pet owner, I do question how your dog was able to run into the road - was it not on a lead?

YANBU I totally agree 20mph for residential areas in more than enough, our roads are so much busier than when the speed limits were introduced.

Im so sorry to hear about your dog

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that time pressure was an excuse - more that it is a reason people drive carelessly and sometimes recklessly.

Speed limits are no good unless they are enforced anyway. All the residential streets locally have been made to 20, it makes not bit of difference and idiots still speed in and daft speeds.

The road which runs infront of all the housing estates (if that makes sense) is a 30 but when the schools locally are finishing or when the conditions are poor I will automatically drive slower than this, the amount of times I have had cars driving dangerously close or even worse over taking is shocking.

It depends. 20mph on fairly main roads in residential areas is too slow, you know the big, wide, straight roads even though there's houses either side.

On estates with more junctions, bends, parked cars then 30mph is often too fast. Ditto near schools, playgrounds.

So depends on the residential area. The street I live on is obviously residential, but its the main road through the village. 30mph is a reasonable speed on it.

I'm sorry aBout your dog.

The main reason laws are obeyed is fear of punishment. Education has a place but selfish impatient people are more likely to slow down if they think they're likely to get a ticket and points than because they've seen a video about the dangers of speeding. Sadly in this country any anti-speed enforcement action is very badly received by the general public.

YANBU

We have a twenty mile per hour zone is many residential areas where I live, with the catchphrase "Twenty's Plenty". I'm not sure if it's always adhered to though.

I'm sorry to hear about your dog being killed. Was she not on a lead?

I'm so sorry for your loss.

However, I don't feel that a 20mph limit will have much (if any) effect. A fatal road accident happened in a road near to my home in the past year. It involved a small child. While horrifically sad, it was absolutely down to the utter stupidity and neglect of the parents of the child, not the driver in any way.

I think there are a lot of reason road accidents happen in built up areas, and speed is just a single one. Unless you find a way to combat each of the reasons, little if anything will change.

Sorry for your loss.

The 20mph in residential areas thing has been brought out in my area. As a driver is it very annoying as some of the streets do not need to be this speed, very hard to keep your speed to 20mph when you have no reason other than the signs to.

As a sensible driver I do obey the rule, but there are those other drivers who beep their horn at me, speed past me and hurl abuse at me. It makes for very uncomfortable driving.

Sorry about your dog.

I don't agree with a blanket 20mph speed limit in residential areas - I think it depends on the individual road / area.

Having a 20mph on narrow roads often lined with parked cars, or with nurseries, schools etc is reasonable. Agree that traffic calming measures can also help reduce speed.

But like Viva, there's roads in residential areas near me that are 'main' roads, are big, wide, straight, have big pavements and hardly any parked cars. 30mph is a reasonable speed limit for those.

YANBY but what was your dog doing on the road in the first place?

30 is right for some residential roads - 20 is right for others, 40 is more appropriate for some.

parked cars on both sides, no visibility = 20 appropriate.

YANBU. I live in a little village which our house is on the main road that runs though it. Obviously it's a 30 but people constantly drive at 40+. It drives me nuts and they just don't seem to care.

I had a little argument with a woman who flashed at me to drive faster as I was going 20 down the road. I pulled over and reminded her it was a 30, that I had a baby in the car and she had a toddler and she might want to consider slowing down as next time I'll rip her fucking head off she just gave me a smug smirk which infuriated me even more.

sorry about your dog, i have had my dog run into the road (she is now no longer allowed off-lead in that area) but the cars saw her and stopped. in a 30 zone.