Plan for safe roads (From Penarth Times)

Plan for safe roads

7:50am Thursday 17th January 2013 in Letters

A KEY aim for Gwyrddio Penarth Greening (GPG) is to help make Penarth a more environmentally friendly, healthier and safer place to live and work.

One step that would help in all these areas would be the introduction of a 20mph speed limit in the town centre and residential streets. There has been growing support for this idea nationwide over the last few years and the measure has already been implemented by over 30 local authorities in the UK, with at least another 12 committed to its implementation.

There are many benefits for a community in implementing the 20mph limit, the most obvious being safer streets for all road users. Lowering residential speed limits to 20mph has been found to decrease child pedestrian accidents by up to 70 per cent, and in Portsmouth the introduction of the 20mph limit has reduced casualties by 22 per cent.

The increased safety on the roads also acts as an encouragement for more people to cycle and walk and helps to create a friendlier and healthier environment for all members of the community. Other benefits include reductions in noise and air pollution and research shows that the lower limit has a negligible effect on journey times.

Cardiff Council are currently considering the idea and the Vale of Glamorgan Council will be discussing the idea at their next Cabinet meeting on Monday, January 21.

GPG would encourage all who think that this is a good idea for our communities to contact their local councillors to make them aware of public support for the proposal.

More information on the nationwide campaign can be found at www.20splentyforus.org.uk Anthony Slaughter GPG Chair