LGP News - Leicester Green Party welcomes NHS call for 20mph limits

Leicester Green Party welcomes NHS call for 20mph limits
Wed, Jan 26, 2011

Health directors’ new report agrees with long-standing Green Party policy(1)

 
The Green Party this morning welcomed a new NHS report (2) on road deaths and injuries which strongly recommends a general 20 mph speed limit, without humps and bumps, on all residential roads.
 
At Leicester City Council meeting of 26th June 2008, the Council agreed to 20mph speed limit around schools, as proposed by former Green Party councillors Matt Follett and Phil Gordon.
 
Directors of Public Health in the North West have produced the report, which draws attention to the high rates of death and injury on roads in the region where children are more likely to be injured in road traffic collisions than anywhere else in the country.
 
Leicester Green Party spokesperson Geoff Forse commented:

“This is an incredibly important report from NHS Directors of Public Health. It says we have a serious problem with death and injury on the roads and it says the solution is a 20-mph limit. I agree.

“The report presents compelling evidence that lives could have been saved and injuries reduced if 20 mph limits had been introduced, which is why we are calling for a city-wide 20mph speed limit on all  residential roads in Leicester.”

The reports main points include:

  • Child casualty information shows that two-thirds of children who are killed or seriously injured on the roads are boys.
  • Over four-fifths of child casualties occur on roads that have a speed limit of 30 mph, and statistical modelling shows that up to 140 killed or seriously injured child casualties could be saved each year if 20 mph speed limits had been applied in these areas.
Other regions in the country may have slightly better records than in the North West, said the Greens, but they would be advised to follow the 20-mph policy to reduce road deaths further.
Notes
  1. In June 2008 the Green Party introduced 20mph limit around schools in Leicester.
  2. The full report, Road Traffic Collisions and Casualties in the North West of England, was produced by the North West Public Health Observatory in conjunction with NHS North West, the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University, the Child and Maternal Health Observatory and the Trauma and Injury Intelligence Group. See http://www.nwph.net/nwpho/Publications/Forms/rta.html.

For further information or interviews, please contact us

Leicester Green Party welcomes NHS call for 20mph limits - Click to make an enquiry
20mph speed limit for residential roads in leicester

Downloads for Leicester Green Party welcomes NHS call for 20mph limits :