20mph areas saving lives, reducing accidents and lowering car insurance

The introduction of 20mph speed limits within Oxfordshire, in 2022 has been shown to save lives, reduce serious accidents and lower the cost of car insurance, despite initial controversy.

The LibDem led County Councils rolling out of 20mph areas to replace 30mph areas has given rise to some debate. Some have been strongly in favour, others against, with good reasoning from both sides. However the arguments for seemed to outweigh the arguments against and after a trial in 2021/2022 the council cabinet agreed to fund a county wide rolling out of 20mph zones.

However, rather than just impose these the council took the pragmatic decision to let local parish and town councils decide whether and where these might be introduced. After all, it is locals who know where the road safety issues and risks are in their areas. But to protect the motorist clear rules were introduced to ensure any changes were properly justified and that the right type of traffic calming was implemented. (For more info see the OCC site)

We have seen many parishes within the county take up and adopt 20mph areas and other traffic calming measures with significant reported benefits.

• Number of collisions down by up to 10%

• Pedestrian incidents down by up to 24%

• Serious injury and fatalities down by up to 53%

• Child injuries down by up to 67%

As a result we have seen a reduction in car insurance premiums of around 16% this year. All in all this policy pragmatically and sympathetically introduced has benefited us all.