After the Archbishop of Canterbury was fined for exceeding a 20 mph speed limit on London’s Embankment, we now have Home Secretary Suella Braverman admitting she broke a speed limit when Justice Secretary last summer. Is this a big deal that the media should be fawning over? I don’t think so.
It’s just another example of legislation that has turned speeding offences into a money-making scam by the offer of Speed Awareness Courses by the police.
The 20 mph limits that are spreading over most of London have not been set on any rational, scientific analysis of the benefits of speed limits and their enforcement. All that is happening is that responsible citizens are being prosecuted for trivial offences that have not harmed anyone.
But irrationally lower speed limits just add to the traffic congestion in London and degrade the road network.
Roger Lawson
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Kahn claims thousands of people die from road pollution annually in the London area hence his enthusiasm for ULEZ expansion. Why then introduce 20mph limits which increase the emissions of vehicles and therefore pollution?
He’s not concerned about health he’s trying to fill the huge hole in TfL finances created by the incompetence of his administration.
Spot on, Roger. 20mph speed limits are being introduced where, I suspect, there is no history of death or serious injury caused by road vehicles. They are just the result of a vocal, forceful minority who ignore the practicalities of (eg) increased congestion, frustration and fines. They probably don’t even drive!
This is the way democracy works now.we have ridiculous rules imposed on us which get broken and the the cancel culture is brought to bear.it is deemed ok to turn Suella Braverman into a criminal and try to take her job but when the mayor of London is asked by labour councils to make there polluting fleets of vehicles exempt nobody says anything.is that because the mainstream media fails now to report on issues that really are questionable.the problem is fewer people today think further than the immediate…….when those councils fail to get exemption who do you think will pay the charges…..residents in the councils catchment……so it won’t matter if you have a compliant vehicle….you will still pay the charge……
As for Suella…well it’s trail by media and something that the media and the left are currently successfully getting away with.
As a driver who worked driving delivery vans, Buses, Green line coaches, and for over twenty years riding motorcycles as a courier in central London, the Home Counties and England at large, speed limits have become the bane of getting around efficiently. No 20mph limit has ever been shown to be justified in terms of saving harm, it’s just a theory – a conspiracy theory.
No-one in their right mind would wish to cause harm while driving, and there will always be those who ignore all rules to satisfy their own selfishness. Speed limits will not stop them.
‘So what’ if someone drives over a limit by a small amount – was any harm caused by the aforementioned parties?
Londons’ congestion has been with us since the horse drawn days, it is not new. What is new, is the ever reducing width of roadway caused by pavement extensions; segregated lanes for buses and cycles; short cuts blocked off into dead ends or one way, forcing traffic onto already busier roads; increases in traffic signalling; four way phasing of traffic signals and re-timing of signals to extend periods on red, and decrease them on green.
The bottom line is simply – private transport is being forced off the roads through engineering and draconian legislation.
Absolutely agree – its all about money and nothing to do about safety or pollution levels! It does have something to do with ‘the few’ imposing control over ‘the many’.