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HeadlineAA anger over ‘gesture politics’ of City of London’s 15mph speed limit proposal

Short HeadlineAA disputes City of London 15mph limit

StandfirstThe charity says the City of London corporation have misunderstood the needs of the Square Mile.

The AA has called a plan to set a 15mph speed limit in the City of London “gesture politics”.

The comments follow the City of London Corporation’s announcement that the speed limit would improve road safety, in line with their Vision Zero commitment.

Vision Zero is an international plan to eliminate traffic deaths. The Department of Transport says car deaths make up 38% of all London road fatalities.

An AA spokesperson branded the proposal “gesture politics”.

He said that “traffic in the Square Mile already moves at the pace of a horse and cart from 200 years ago.

“The City of London Corporation’s priority should be making traffic more efficient by encouraging drivers to turn off their engines when they’re parked up.”

Road safety charity IAM Roadsmart’s Director of Policy and Research Neil Grieg also questioned the plan.

“IAM Roadsmart can see no real can see no real road safety benefits in enforcing a limit which traffic seldom actually reaches.

“Simply putting up a few signs and threating new levels of enforcement but not actually changing how our streets look and feel will achieve very little,” he said.

But Cllr John Paschoud from the London Road Safety Council called this criticism “disappointing”.

He said: “The City of London is peculiar in that it has an amazing density of pedestrian traffic.

There’s lots of information being gathered now that shows that as you reduce speed limits below 30mph you reduce the number of people killed. It’s not rocket science.”