Doctors say 20 is plenty in city street during coronavirus crisis
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LEADING doctors have called on the UK government to impose a universal 20mph urban speed limit to reduce pressure on the NHS during the Covid-19 crisis.
20’s Plenty for Us, the national campaign for 20mph limits, is supporting doctors’ calls for the UK government to act now.
A letter sent to The Times by 110 doctors stated: “Each month there are nearly 3000 road traffic collision-related admissions to NHS hospitals in England alone. Lowering and enforcing speed limits would reduce the frequency and severity of road traffic collisions.”
Campaigners point to the experience of Canada, where lowering the speed limit from 40km/h to 30km/h (20mph) was associated with a 28 per cent decrease in pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions and a 67 per cent decrease in major and fatal injuries.
Rod King, founder and campaign director of 20’s Plenty for Us, said “It is in the government’s power and interest to change all 30mph limits to 20mph by making appropriate public announcements, without any need to change road signs. The precedent already exists to change national speed limits in an emergency.
"The government changed national speed limits in the 1974 fuel crisis to save petrol and it must do this in the 2020 Covid-19 crisis to save lives. This move will match the mood all of us to do everything possible for our NHS resources and staff.”
