Twenty is plenty for Highland councillors
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Highland Council will urgently call on the Scottish Government to introduce a blanket 20mph speed limit in residential areas.
The proposal was tabled by Councillor Ben Thompson, the chairman of the care and learning committee Allan Henderson and council convener Bill Lobban.
They stated: “20mph limits have a measurable impact on health and public safety through increasing the perception of safer streets and reduce the likelihood of serious accidents.
“The council regrets that the existing legislation for rolling out 20mph zones is very costly, slow to implement and can lead to a patchwork of speed restrictions which is far from ideal.”
Councillor Lobban said the move was child safety and not about how much it might cost the council. He acknowledged most people stick to speed limits, adding motorists in his community who drive at 30mph instead of 20mph save seconds, not minutes on the journey.
Councillor Henderson said: “Unfortunately, I have had a grandchild who was knocked by a driver who was overtaking a bus and fortunately was going relatively slowly.
“So the poor child was knocked to ground but had her leg badly mutilated. Another few miles per hour and I suspect that the little mark on her head would have been worse.”
Councillors agreed to press the Scottish Government to urgently reconsider implementing a system where 20mph is the default speed limit for built-up residential areas.
