The Scottish Government

This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007

Listen

20mph speed limits for school areas

26/09/2003

Local authorities are being awarded with a £27 million funding boost to introduce 20mph speed limits around school areas and other road safety projects to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety.

Transport Minister Nicol Stephen made the announcement at Aberdeen's Upper Westfield Primary School, where a 20mph zone and traffic calming measures have just been implemented.

Mr Stephen said local authorities would receive the funding over three years to implement the speed limits, safer routes to school and home zones based on their own priorities and knowledge of local needs and circumstances.

Mr Stephen said:

"The Scottish Executive is committed to improving children's road safety and reducing the number of children killed and injured on Scotland's roads. Significant progress has already been made in reducing these deaths and injuries, but there are still too many tragic incidents.

"Twenty mph speed limits can play an important role in protecting vulnerable road users such as children, pedestrians and cyclists.

"By improving safety around schools and residential areas across Scotland we hope to encourage more young people to walk and cycle to school and work.

"Twenty mph zones have been very effective in reducing the number of accidents and the severity of casualties. Research shows that injury accidents have fallen by 60%, child pedestrian accidents by 70% and child cyclist accidents by 48% in areas where 20 mph zones and traffic calming measures have been introduced.

"The Executive is committed to cutting the number of deaths and injuries on our roads and has set a target to halve the number of children killed and seriously injured by 2010. We are on target to achieve this, with a 38 percent drop in the number of children killed or seriously injured by 2002 compared to the mid-1990s level.

"Today's announcement will help bring us closer to meeting this target, while also delivering our Partnership Agreement commitment to establish 20 mph schemes."

Funding for the schemes comes from the Scottish Budget for 2004-2005, announced earlier this month. It will be for each local authority to determine its priorities for action under these themes. The Executive will work with local authorities and the police on how best to implement 20 mph limits at schools on roads with existing speed limits of 40 mph or more.

Local authorities have the power to introduce a range of 20 mph schemes, including mandatory and advisory speed limits, with or without engineering measures (traffic calming) at suitable locations.

Local authorities also have power to set part-time mandatory 20 mph speed limits, which operate only at certain periods. Part-time 20 mph speed limits may be particularly appropriate outside schools, operating at times when children are going to and from school.

The Home Zones (Scotland) Regulations 2002 set out the procedures a local authority must follow when designing a road in their area as a home zone. A pilot programme of home zones is currently underway.

The 4 pilot home zones are in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Thurso. Guidance on home zones was issued by the Executive in August 2002. This was a working consultation document to be updated once the evaluation of the 4 pilots is available. It is intended to inform the selection and design of potential home zone schemes and is not intended to be a detailed technical guide.

Last week the Transport Minister also announced a total of £16.85 million in funding to local authorities over 2004-06 for cycling, walking and safer streets projects (CWSS), including safer routes to school

Local authorities were also allocated almost £21 million ring-fenced funding over the period 2000-2004 for such CWSS projects. In addition over £18m has been provided to Scottish local authorities through bidding to the Public Transport Fund for cycling projects or projects with a large cycling/walking element in them. Works valued at £7m have also been provided through the Trunk Roads Cycling Initiative for trunk road sections of the National Cycle Network.