Nottingham city centre's 20mph limits will be enforced soon after concerns were raised over the issue elsewhere in the UK. Recently, Giles Orpen-Smellie, Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner for Norfolk, spoke out about how he viewed separate '20mph zones' as difficult to enforce, with local police then confirming it did not issue tickets for driving at up to 30mph in these areas, stirring up divisive national coverage.
According to a Department for Transport (DfT) research study, there are two distinct types of 20mph schemes with '20mph limits' indicated by speed limit signs, whilst '20mph zones' are designed to be self-enforcing by using traffic calming measures like speed humps and chicanes.
DfT guidance added successful schemes are usually self-enforcing, as there should be no expectation of additional police enforcement unless it has been agreed with the local council.
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The majority of Nottingham's residential areas already have a 20mph limit in place, which was introduced by a traffic regulation order in 2015, which allows the highway authority to regulate the speed, movement and parking of vehicles. But new 20mph limits, which will include much of Nottingham city centre, are set to come into force legally at the end of this month on March 30. New 20mph signs have been put up in recent months.
Although motorists in other parts of the country can likely speed without legal consequences in areas designed to be 20mph, the same does not apply in Nottingham, as the traffic order legally imposes the speed limit and is not advisory. A Nottingham City Council spokesperson said: "In Nottingham the majority of our residential areas have a 20mph speed limit which is the legal speed limit and drivers must not exceed these speeds. A traffic regulation order was completed in 2015 to achieve this.
"Following consultation, in which we found that the majority of residents who took part were in favour of and welcomed a lower speed limit and safer neighbourhoods, the 20mph speed limit in the city centre is currently being installed and the new speed limit will come into force legally on March 30, 2023. The police continue to enforce all speed limits within Nottingham."
A number of inner-city roads will be affected by the upcoming speed change, which is intended to improve safety, as well as make the city greener and encourage more people to walk and cycle. These include Talbot Street, Clarendon Street, Peel Street, Dryden Street and Shakespeare Street, near Nottingham Trent University's city campus
It was suggested in a DfT report that the "small reduction in actual speeds is likely to have had a positive influence on reducing the number of collisions and casualties" in the 20mph areas studied. Studies show generally strong support for 20mph areas, with a previous Nottingham City Council consultation finding 71 percent of respondents approved of the city centre measures.
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