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Ealing’s 20mph Speed Limits

Ealing Council and Better Ealing Streets call for Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps to devolve 20mph speeding enforcement to councils

As well as campaigning for low traffic neighbourhoods, Better Ealing Streets is active in many initiatives that help move towards safer and healthier streets. These include partnering with Mums for Lungs on a publicity campaign celebrating the introduction of ULEZ, walking and cycling initiatives and campaigning to redesign dangerous junctions.

Our key goal of making our streets safer naturally includes tackling the issue of speeding.

Despite an introduction of 20mph speed limits on all borough-controlled roads across Ealing, speeding is a still a very prevalent problem. The DfT found that in 2020 the majority of drivers break 20mph speed limits.

Dangerous driving, including speeding is a very real problem here in Ealing where last year, 118 people were killed or seriously injured in road collisions, the vast majority (66%) of which involved a car.

Even with borough-wide 20mph speed limits and good signage to go with it, there is a lack adherence by many drivers, and a lack of effective enforcement. Metropolitan Police resources are simply stretched too far to tackle the problem, despite the danger speeding poses.

Councils have the potential to fill this void in enforcement, so Ealing Council and Better Ealing Streets have jointly written to Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State for Transport, asking to devolve power for 20mph enforcement to councils. Ealing council has the means and proximity to work with residents to identify problem locations, and then provide the resources to enforce.

We hope other councils across London and elsewhere will join Ealing Council is calling on the Secretary of State to enable councils to enforce speed limits. Only by effective and widespread enforcement will the issue of speeding be brought into check.

DfT statistics – https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/vehicle-speed-compliance-statistics-for-great-britain-2020/vehicle-speed-compliance-statistics-for-great-britain-2020#vehicle-speeds-on-20mph-roads

Link to Ealing Council’s Announcement – https://www.ealing.gov.uk/downloads/download/6497/cllr_deirdre_costigan_has_written_to_the_secretary_of_state_for_transport_calling_on_him_to_make_it_easier_to_enforce_20mph_zones_in_the_borough

An image of the letter sent. Please see above for a link to a text version.
An image of the letter sent. Please see tweets above for a link to a text version.