SINCE Cllr Ian Gillies was quoted as wanting to roll back the 20mph zones (The Press, July 8), we have seen an outpouring of letters from people identifying themselves as “motorists”, who feel that they have been victimised by these speed restrictions and that this is somehow “common sense”.

Yet most adults, like me, have a driving licence and access to a car. We can hardly be described as a persecuted minority.

The fact is that driving your car as though we were still living in the 1960s, when private car traffic was so much lighter, is simply unsustainable.

I have and use a car. I also ride a bike and have a pair of legs, not to mention the free bus pass my age entitles me to. I try to make sensible decisions about which mode of transport is best for each journey.

Also, I know that I pose far more danger to my fellow citizens, especially children, when I am behind the wheel of my car than when I am cycling or walking.

I find it a lot easier to observe a 20mph limit covering a whole zone, rather than one chopped into short stretches of roads outside schools.

Keep the zones, I say, and make sure they’re as clearly marked as possible. I think that’s “common sense”.

Chris Walker-Lyne, Millfield Road, York

 

THERE is something sad about watching the two youngish men running York in coalition being so out of touch with our age (The Press, July 8).

20mph speed limits are not some hippy plot. 12 million Britons, in councils of all political colours, live in areas that have adopted 20mph speed limits.

Why are we to accept that it is good to wish to protect children outside schools, but everywhere else they and all other pedestrians are fair game?

Statistics across the UK, and everywhere else, show that the time it takes to cross a city is not determined by how fast you travel but by how long you spend queueing in traffic.

Physics shows us that a car travelling at 20mph can stop in less than half the distance of a car travelling at 30mph, resulting in fewer fatalities and serious injuries.

York existed for centuries before the arrival of cars and will exist long after the combustion engine is consigned to history.

Preferring cars to decent public transport and safe cycle tracks is unfathomable other than in terms of pandering to a particular electorate rather than showing the leadership to create a sustainable future.

Get with the modern world, guys.

Christian Vassie, Blake Court, York

 

LARS Kramm is typical of some who wrongly think we gave an “announcement to roll back the 20mph blanket” (Letters, July 13).

What we did is announce a report to the executive about the viability (including cost) of taking out some of the 20mph zones, but we have been clear this would only be done if and where residents want it.

So ward councillors like Cllr Kramm can be involved in the process, unlike when the previous Labour administration brought in its policy.

It is wrong to suggest we want to see traffic go faster around residential streets. The reality is the zones are too often in areas no-one could ever get to 20mph or where the speeds are ignored.

We need proper enforcement of realistic speed limits, whereas the blanket approach lessened respect for low speed limits where they should be – like around schools.

It seems to have been York residents welcoming this realistic and resident-led approach, but sadly national campaigners and paid lobbyists for 20mph campaigns have been more vocal.

We are clear that we will listen to residents on the issue in a way that Labour never did.

Officers will advise on what can and should be done and residents will make the final decision.

Chris Steward, Leader City of York Council

 

IN RESPONSE to the story entitled “Ridiculous 20mph limit to be lifted?” (The Press, July 8).

The blanket roll out of the 20mph zones in and around York cost £600,000 of taxpayers’ money, continues to be a failure and was nothing more than a vanity project by the previous administration at City of York Council.

This £600,000 should have been spent on vital services for the people of York.

Terry Smith, Fourth Avenue, Heworth, York

 

THE recent article on 20mph limits (The Press, July 8) notes that “He (Cllr Gillies) believed that removing the 20mph signs would set the limit back to 30mph”.

City of York Council in its capacity of traffic authority has already enacted traffic regulation orders “thereby revoking the existing 30mph limit imposed by virtue of the standard of street lighting applying to the respective roads and length of roads subject of the proposal”. This is a standard procedure that has been adopted by the many authorities implementing wide-area 20mph limits.

The roads concerned only have the enacted 20mph limit. They do not “revert back to 30mph” in the absence of signage. If there were any limit that they would “revert back to” then this would be the national 60mph limit for single carriageway roads.

Throughout the world 20mph limits are being implemented on residential and urban streets as a foundation for road safety, active travel, civil amenity, public health, noise, and air quality improvements.

Politicians can continue the bitter political wrangling, or they can create a city that better meets the needs of its citizens to share the streets.

Rod King, 20’s Plenty Cheshire