Westminster ‘needs 20mph speed limit to cut road deaths’

Calls: campaigners want the borough to impose 20mph limits (Picture: Google Street View)

30 January 2015

Westminster council has come under attack over its road safety record, with protesters claiming it does too little to protect residents and visitors.

Campaign groups Westminster Living Streets and 20s Plenty For Us are both demanding that the borough imposes 20mph limits.

They claim that it suffers almost 30 per cent more road casualties than any other in the capital.

Drawing on Transport for London statistics, they say “far more” people are killed or injured on Westminster streets.

The borough had 1,732 road casualties — including 177 fatalities or serious injuries — in 2013, the latest year for which full figures are available.

Campaigners posted a video online which says: “Slow speeds are the single most effective way of reducing road casualties.”

Camden, the City, Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham and Hackney are among councils that have or plan 20mph limits, it adds, but “in Westminster just one road has a 20mph limit”.

Ed Argar, Westminster cabinet member for transport, said the council kept the effectiveness of 20mph limits under review but added: “The average speed here is lower than that.”

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