Having gone hard at #LTNs in his The Telegraph interview over the weekend, Rishi Sunak also decided to take on the devolved administrations by moving the ‘culture wars’ to Wrexham and piling in on 20mph limits.
He obviously feels that he has hit a rich vein of electoral opportunity by the taking on what he describes as ‘anti-car policies’ but is he just singing to the choir or does he have a point?
Speaking to an audience in Wrexham, he says “It will just add cost and complexity, it will cause people to make that adjustment and just get in the way of their ordinary lives.” So, in what ways does it add cost & complexity?
I guess it depends which costs you measure? Motorists are almost certainly not able to account for any real additional cost in time or fuel. Having reviewed the data on like-for-like journeys that we make since local roads went from 30mph to 20mph any differential is undetectable, and times have possibly even improved. Meanwhile the adverse health costs can be significant; fatality risk at 30mph (50 km/h) is more than five times higher than the risk at 20mph (30 km/h) – so even very modest reductions in speed (as seen in Bristol) were associated with reductions in injuries and increases in cycling.
And what of the complexity? Is it not much more complex to have limits that vary all the time? Rather a national standard for urban roads (unless otherwise advised) is 20mph… Simple.
The public (which, let’s not forget, includes all motorists!) remain concerned about speeds of local traffic. In Wales, 68% were concerned about cars or other vehicles driving too fast generally, a figure which rose to 73% for those with children aged under 16 in their household. Meanwhile, around two-thirds or British adults are reticent to cycle because of safety concerns. And we shouldn’t forget that, asked directly whether they would support a speed limit of 20 mph in the area in which they lived, 80% of Welsh adults said that they would.
And if policies like 20mph, or LTNs or ULEZ do encourage some people to travel by alternative means to private motor vehicles is that a bad thing for the British people? Former chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson once said “The potential benefits of physical activity to health are huge. If a medication existed that had a similar effect, it would be regarded as a ‘wonder drug’ or ‘miracle cure’.”
So, what if we reduced our car dependency? Would it make people’s lives so much worse or might we have healthier lives, in cleaner air with improved social interactions, whilst giving the planet a chance?
He says this approach is ‘not appropriate’ – I’d be interested to know what he thinks would be?