Twenty is plenty for us

twenty is plenty for us

Here at the ETA, we are proud to have helped coin the phrase “Twenty’s plenty” and thrilled that over the years it evolved into 20’s Plenty for Us, a campaign group we continue to support.

20’s Plenty for Us recently analysed road casualty figures for 2016 and found there to be ‘no justification for 30 mph as the national speed limit’.

DfT statistics published this month reveal that in 2016 there were 129,837 reported casualties on built-up roads – of which 105,981 were on 30mph roads. 588 people (11 a week) were killed and a further 12,849 (246 a week) were seriously injured on 30mph roads – figures we should all consider unacceptable.

The 30mph limit for built-up areas was set more than 80 years ago in an arbitrary way. According to 20’s Plenty for Us, “The 30mph limit that was plucked out of the air in 1934 as being better than no limit, is no longer fit for purpose. It is unjust, unjustifiable and needs to be consigned to history.”

The campaign group also says 30 mph limits fail to satisfy the sustainable system approach that seeks a road environment where mistakes ‘do not end in death for either those making them or their innocent victims’.

Rod King MBE, founder of 20’s Plenty, told us: “A routinely enforced 20mph limit should be the new urban norm with higher speeds only allowed on roads that protect pedestrians and cyclists with appropriate crossing and segregated facilities. It would transform our urban environment and be the foundation for a healthier and more productive nation.”

Ethical insurance

The ETA has been voted Britain’s most ethical insurance company 2017.

The Good Shopping Guide each year reveals the good, the bad, and the ugly of the world’s companies and brands, with a view to supporting the growth of social responsibility and ethical business as well as a more sustainable, just society.

Beating household-name insurance companies such as John Lewis and the Co-op, we earned an ethical company index score of 89 – earning us joint-first place with Naturesave.

Ethical insurance company 2017

The ETA was established in 1990 as an ethical provider of green, reliable travel services. Twenty seven years on, we continue to offer cycle insurancetravel insurance and breakdown cover  while putting concern for the environment at the heart of all we do.

Comments

  1. H Noakes

    Reply

    I live in a road with a 20mph limit. Many car drivers do not observe this, and the police say that it can’t be enforced. I expect many accidents occur in 30mph zones because this speed limit is not observed either. What can I do to discourage drivers revving up in our road?

    • The ETA

      Reply

      We’ve heard tales of people building their own fake speed cameras…and from what we hear, they work as well as the real ones

  2. Mary Fisher

    Reply

    I too live in an area where all the streets are 20mph. And there are a lot of cars,very few of which observe the limit.Quite a few are driven at far more than 30mph – this is a narrow street with cars parked on both sides of the street.

    There’s no need for such parking, we all have drives.

    How CAN the speed limit be enforced/ How can cars be prevented from being parked right across the pavement, thus forcing wheelchair users, children etc. to walk on the very busy road?

    The police say it’s the council’s problem, the council say it’s up to the police …

    • The ETA

      Reply

      I think we need a critical mass response because as you example illustrates, there is very little political will to confront the driving/voting public.

  3. Philip Nalpanis

    Reply

    20 mph is fine for residential areas but is not justified on arterial and ring roads, which most people are using to get from one place to another or one area of a town/city to another.

  4. eddie white

    Reply

    There is more than one story in this newsletter showing what cars/vans etc are doing to our lives. 2016 on 30mph roads 588 killed (11 per week) & 246 a week seriously injured, what more will it take till we see the truth.
    The Dutch in 1971 had the same problem 2300 a year killed/ injured of which 400 were kids. It was enough to get them on the streets en mass to force there government to take action, and it worked. We need to look at doing the same here. I read a comment here that the police say they cannot enforce speed limits, why not??? that is part of there job.
    Do we as a nation love cars so much that were happy to see our kids die because of them?

  5. Adrian Liddle

    Reply

    Police enforce the speed limits? What police? Round here in East London it is rare to see them unless they are roaring along with sirens and blue lights. The only thing that seems to control traffic speed is average speed cameras but it would be impossible to have every road covered by them. Like previous commentators my road, with its 20mph limit, is used as a race track with drivers convinced that negotiating speed humps at speed negates their use. We need greater input from Government and local councils with better education and very strict penalties for speeding such as impounding the vehicles caught speeding as they are for lack of insurance.

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