According to analysis of government data by Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) there has been an increase of 26 percent to 420 year-over-year in the number of serious accidents on 20mph roads and 17 percent in the number of accidents causing slight injury.
There has been an increase in the number of 20mph roads in the country during recent years following guidance by the government aimed at reducing road based casualties. Experts are however concerned that these roads are not effective in curbing serious accidents.
IAM believes that more needs to be done to tackle the issue of road casualties as putting up a 20mph sign alone isn’t going to be effective.
“The IAM are concerned that this is because simply putting a sign on a road that still looks like a 30mph zone does not change driver behaviour”, said IAM chief Simon Best.
“More evaluation and research is needed into the real world performance of 20mph limits to ensure limited funds are being well spent.”
Best calls on authorities to change the characters of roads with a history of accidents so that they look more like 20mph roads.
There are those who believe that government is in a disconnect as far as road safety is concerned. Luke Bosdet, a spokesman for the AA, believes that the government is neglecting other methods of road safety primary among them being street lights.
“They are prepared to drop speed limits down to 20mph to improve road safety but equally they are prepared to turn off street lights and kill more people”, said Bosdet notes The Telegraph.
