BCP are rolling out the 20 mph limits, apparently they have 77 so far, with many more to follow. Their current tack is they want these ‘close to schools’ and where there have been a number of ‘serious collisions’. On the face of this, this doesn’t seem unreasonable. Interesting that the most recent proposed zone is quoted by BCP as the ‘most serious area for collisions’ if this is the case why wasn’t this the first area, rather than the 78th? It is clear that is not BCP’s real aim and that they would have preferred blanket 20mph across the conurbation and when this was muted by the council a poll conducted by the Echo indicated that this was opposed by 82% of the population, so they realised that this would have a great deal of resistance. Next we were next told that BCP would not go for a blanket 20mph but only in residential streets, which sounds fine until you realise that nearly all the roads in BCP have houses on them and are therefore ‘residential’, so in effect any other disguised blanket limit.
BCP have now moved the policy on to ‘close to schools’ and where there have been serious collisions. Their idea of close to schools is not the 100 meters either side of the gates as you might expect but much further away, I have seen suggestions of a mile or more. This again pretty much includes all of BCP when you draw 1 mile radius around each school, so again a blanket limit, by stealth.
If schools are the real concern, then they should replicate Dorset County Council’s policy and have the 20mph limit when the schools are open, not 24 hours a day 365 days a year and only within 100 meters of the school gates. Most younger children still arrive and leave school in mum’s car and the driving and parking of mum or dad’s ‘taxi’ which often leaves much to be desire in terms of road safety around school gates. We even have a well know Councilor, who videos these events outside schools, although we now know he is ‘not acting as a councilor’ when filming children outside schools.
On the issue of serious collisions, if we want no collisions, we ban all vehicles. There has to be a reasonable balance between effective travel and road safety, although I think some councilors and other activists might want to ban all private vehicles. If the council reviewed the road collision statistics, they would see that these show, that despite the number of vehicles on the road increasing every year the number of collisions and deaths reduces every year. The UK is without doubt one of the safest countries in Europe and the World to be a road user, as a result of the year on year reduction in collisions.
So why are BCP so anti motorist, well it stems from the fact that they declared a ‘climate emergency’ in 2019 and their councilors and officers have openly stated there are too many cars on the road in BCP and they want to get 50% of them off the road. This is why they are implementing a number of anti-motorist measures; 20mph, LTNs, increased parking charges, removal of bus lay-bys, reducing road widths and removing road junctions. They want you the motorist off the road, through an undeclared ‘war on motorists’ although they will deny that this is the case. With the 20mph limits close to schools they have the real option of having these operating only during school hours to protect children, but they won’t and it is clear what the real agenda is and children safety is not the issue.
We support road safety. We would like to see a number of measures; proper school buses for all children to reduce congestion and improve safety outside schools that is frequently sadly lacking at the end of the school day. Better road safety training at schools, increased enforcement of existing laws; get illegal e-scooters and e-motor bikes off the road. All too often we see existing laws being openly flouted in front of the police who seem to do nothing about it. We understand that Dorset Police have no intention of even attempting to enforce the 20mph limits, so this becomes more of a suggestion rather than an effective piece of legislation. Our worry is the more laws that are ignored, then respect for the police and the law is eroded and that is increasingly apparent to us all every day.