Northern Ireland needs more 20mph speed limits

Anyone who has not driven much on the mainland could easily get caught out if they then do so.

In Greater London, for example, there are many such 20mph zones. Motorists who are used to such streets having a 30mph limit can easily get caught by cameras and fined.

A new study has found that such lower limits cut accidents and reduce injuries. One of the few such 20mph limits in Northern Ireland is in Belfast city centre, on either side of the city hall. Researchers have found that it led to a 2% reduction in crashes. This is lower than the fall that was recorded in GB, such as in Edinburgh, where it was a 40% drop.

The lower Belfast reduction should not be a surprise. The limit is not being enforced there via cameras and in any event applies to an area with many traffic lights, where vehicles cannot get up much speed even if they want to.

But 20mph limits are a welcome trend in road safety — and Northern Ireland needs many more of them.

Roads in the province are far safer than they were even 20 years ago, let alone 50 years ago, when traffic fatalities peaked and people were almost 10 times more likely to be killed per mile travelled than they are now.

It has become much more socially unacceptable now to put lives at risk through driving. Curbing dangerous speeds has been a key factor in saving lives (alongside other factors).

Lower speed limits need not be a universal or puritanical policy. Motorways are the safest roads and there is a case for them to have 80mph limits, enforced by cameras.

We also need more dual carriageways with 70mph limits.

But there are few things more deplorable than someone charging past a school, or through a village, at speed. A limit of 30mph might result in people driving at 35 or 38mph which is perilous. In places where human pedestrians are at risk, we need 20mph limits, enforced where feasible by camera.