25 February 2011 – Keith Taylor, the Green MEP for Sussex and the South East, will visit Reading today to back local campaigners’ call for a 20 mph limit across all residential roads in the town. Keith will visit St Bartholomew’s Road with local Green Party members who are concerned about cars driving down St Bartholomew’s road at high speeds. The road is next to Palmer Park, which is used by many families.

Keith, the Green MEP responsible for road safety in the European Parliament, is supporting a default limit of 20mph throughout the town, except on main arterial roads. Reading Borough Council has recently agreed to produce a policy on this issue. In Portsmouth a 20mph limit has been enforced successfully with no additional speed bumps.

Keith Taylor said: “Introducing 20mph can make a real difference to a town like Reading; it can save children’s lives. In both Portsmouth and Oxford 20mph residential streets have reduced the speed of traffic without the need for other traffic calming measures.

“The facts are clear, a pedestrian hit by a car travelling at 20mph is likely to suffer slight injuries, but at 30mph they are likely to be severely hurt. At 40mph or above they are likely to be killed. I’m delighted to hear that the council will be producing a policy on 20mph. I hope that they will see the benefits that introducing this limit will bring to Reading’s residents.”

20mph limits can seriously reduce the impact of an accident on a child. In Portsmouth where 20mph is standard, there has been a 22% reduction in casualties. A recent NHS report in the North West found that over four-fifths of child casualties occur on roads that have a speed limit of 30 mph. 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 (2).

Keith Taylor will be chairing a 20 mph campaigning meeting at the national Green Party’s spring conference in Cardiff on Sunday, 27 February.

ENDS