This morning, on the first day of the new 20mph limit, I didn't encounter any effort at speed limit enforcement as I cycled through the zone to and from work, but I did meet a couple of police at Middle Meadow Walk who were stopping people on bikes to encourage them to wear lots of hi-vis and h*lm*ts. We had a short polite conversation about cycle safety. We did agree about one thing, that the roads should be redesigned to provide safe space for bicycles. The policeman asked at one point if I was strongly against h*lm*ts and hi-vis. I wonder how he could tell!
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
South Central 20 mph
(175 posts)-
Posted 12 years ago #
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The police statement is that no extra resources will be assigned, not that they'll turn a blind eye.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Posted 12 years ago #
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Actually, they've already established that they don't enforce 20mph, considering that their resources are better deployed in enforcing speed limits where statistically there are serious or fatal accidents, and these don't (or didn't) include 20mph zones.
Instead they periodically monitor speeds using Traffic Support Wardens, and advice is issued by letter to speeding motorists. A second letter to the same registered keeper means a visit from an officer to discuss the matter. No fines have been issued.
Found via a search on their website, as I was about to ask an FoI request about the resources currently expended on enforcing speed limits (thinking about the "no extra resources" line), but it turns out the information is already public.
No one need fear a fine or prosecution for breaking a 20mph - maybe even a 30mph or 40mph, if the area isn't statistically an accident hotspot.
Robert
Posted 12 years ago # -
I'm amazed how many FoI requests they deal with in a single month, going by that link. Interesting balance to be struck between accountability, oversight and committing resource to answering the questions.
Also of (utterly unrelated) interest, a list of those charged with various cycling offenses. More than I'd have thought. http://www.lbp.police.uk/information/freedom_of_information/disclosure_log/2011/august/offences_committed_by_cyclists.aspx
Posted 12 years ago # -
"More than I'd have thought"
That's what I thought until I realised 'big numbers' were ages
104 in 6 years isn't a 'crime wave'!
Posted 12 years ago # -
Plus don't forget that the Police like to crack down heavily on cycling. Unlike driving, no fatalities are needed for them to do this.
Posted 12 years ago # -
I seem to have found a "loophole"/mistake in the 20 mph system. I've just Clarenced it and thought I'd share it with you: (I hope Clarence is the right way to deal with this, let me know if there's a better way)
Dear Clarence,
I seem to have discovered a mistake in the new 20 mph system in South Edinburgh, specifically on Kilmaurs Terrace.
I was checking the map showing 30 mph and 20 mph roads in the area, available through the Streets Ahead website and discovered that Kilmaurs Terrace is neither indicated as 20 mph nor as 30 mph.
Kilmaurs Terrace runs east-west between Dalkeith Road and Kilmaurs Road and is one-way for cars etc going east (towards Kilmaurs Road), but has a contraflow lane for cyclists going west (towards Dalkeith
Road). When checking the situation IRL, I found out that Kilmaurs Terrace does not have a speed limit indicated, neither when entering the street from either side, nor when exiting the street to either
side. Apart from the fact that people driving/cycling on Kilmaurs Terrace do not know what the speed limit is, this also has implications for the surrounding streets: it means that a car on the 30 mph Dalkeith Road could turn into Kilmaurs Terrace and then end up on the 20 mph Kilmaurs Road, without the driver knowing s/he's in a 20 mph zone. (And vice versa a cyclist could go from Kilmaurs Road to
Terrace to Dalkeith Road thinking s/he's still in a 20 mph zone.)Could you please clarify the situation and install appropriate speed limit signs?
Posted 12 years ago # -
The questions on enforcing 20mph were also answered by Fife Constabulary and they seem to have been more active, with 463 FPNs issued. Will there be such regional variations under the single police force?
Posted 12 years ago # -
This puts paid to the accusation that speeding fines are a revenue raising/"war on the motorist" measure.
If someone had the authority to dish out fines for speeding in the 20mph section of Holyrood Park they would make a fortune. I cruise along the flat there at 20mph on the nose and it is a very rare occurence indeed that cars do not overtake me at what looks like at least 30mph...
Posted 12 years ago # -
Given the Fife and L&B questions were the same, I attempted to see if Strathclyde answered the same request. Sadly they don't seem to publish their responses online - they're missing the 'Disclosure Log' site that the other two forces have. Odd.
I'll ping them an email this evening, unless someone else wants to bring their Google-fu to bear...?
Be nice if enforcement was consistent!
Posted 12 years ago # -
I don't know if this just coincidence, but twice this week I have seen a pair of LBP motorcyclists at different locations on the 20mph zone. TY
hey were sticking to the 20mph limit, lots of unhappy looking cagers behind them. It may be that LBP are using this tactic to get the message across, if so, well done.Posted 12 years ago # -
Cagers? Oh dear.
Posted 12 years ago # -
and ?
Posted 12 years ago # -
@freewhwheelin were the LBP motorcyclists in the Holyrood Park?
Do any of the more legislation-inclined posters know if L&B have any authority on the park road?
Posted 12 years ago # -
No they were near Sciennes, and on West Saville terr.
Posted 12 years ago # -
I'll leave it at 'oh dear.'
It's one of those arguments where the internet's inability to convey tone really matters. Come along to the coffee on Friday at Zazou and paralinguistics will keep it real.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Dear MV & Kaputnik)
MV - the 20mph signs are in place on Kilmaurs Terrace and have been for maybe a over a week. I live close by and remember them going in but I also checked this evening (in case I dreamt it!).
Kaputnik - the Roads Authority in the Park is Historic Scotland but they use L&B to enforce.
Gordon
Posted 12 years ago # -
Freewhelin how did you know they were basketball players? Were they wearing the team gear? Or were they in a sign written bus? In which case as you know the police should have pulled them over for driving a commercial vehicle in the queens park. I was stopped by the police there last week but my van is not a commercial vehicle. I think thar's why the police sit there. They told me that the tarmac is too thin for commercial vehicles ....... Whaaa?
Posted 12 years ago # -
That's hilarious. Magic anti-capitalist gravity obviously warps spacetime more strongly if you're getting paid to drive across it.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Presumably heavy use by trucks, heavy laden commercial vans, buses etc would destroy the road surface? The few private individuals who happen to use vans (not that large a proportion of the population) running through there will not make that much difference. Makes sense to me.
Posted 12 years ago # -
There was me thinking that the park heritage environment in the centre of Edinburgh was being protected from rat-running by commercial interests at least, but no - it's just because we're too cheap to build a proper road for them.
This. Is. Edinburgh.
Posted 12 years ago # -
It makes sense to keep commercial vehicles out of the park of course was just laughing at the reason.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Seems to be a bit of confusion. I saw these uniformed Police motorcycles, riding in pairs abreast (as they do)on 2 occasions recently in the south central 20mph trial area, not in the park & Arthurs seat.
Posted 12 years ago #
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