Effect of 20mph traffic speed zones on road injuries in London
Document: b4469.pdf
Category: Road
Road injuries are among the leading causes of loss of life and disability worldwide, and they are projected to make an increasingly important contribution to public health burdens over the coming decades, especially in low and middle income settings. Internationally, there is debate around how the development of transport infrastructure needed to meet the United Nations millennium development goals can be achieved without adding to the burden of injury that is currently disproportionately borne by poor pedestrians, particularly children and young adults.4-6 The United Kingdom has a comparatively good road injury record, with injury rates among the lowest in Europe. Nonetheless, in 2006 there were 2858 deaths and 26 066 serious injuries on roads in England and Wales, and reduction in these numbers remains a major aim of public policy.
There is good evidence internationally for the effectiveness of reducing the speed and volume of traffic for reducing injury rates.9-11 One strategy for reducing speeds in urban areas is the use of road engineering interventions such as vertical deflections (humps), chicanes, and other physical alterations to prevent
motorised traffic travelling at more than 20 miles an hour (32 km an hour). Zones in which traffic is limited to 20 mph are a type of area-wide traffic calming that uses road engineering measures to physically slow traffic.
This research is published in the latest British Medical Journal Online edition. To read the rest of the article click on the link.
Posted 10:04 am December 14, 2009
