Following a consultation, Transport for London will install a 20mph speed limit on all central London roads it manages by May. The scheme would see a new limit along 5.5 miles of roads including Millbank, Albert Embankment and Borough High Street by May 2020.
Critics pointed out traffic meant average car speed in London is 6mph.
The speed limit is already in place on 19 per cent of London’s roads and supporters claim major benefits in road safety and improvement on the quality of life. Islington became the first London borough to impose a 20mph limit on all the roads that it controlled followed by Camden and the City of London. Once the city-wide speed restriction is adopted by all of London’s boroughs it will mean 95 per cent of the capital’s roads will have this restriction imposed upon them, which Transport bosses hope to introduce over the next five years.
Driving in Islington now has become tedious at best and painful should one have a back condition. The council’s road calming measures in the form of ‘sleeping policemen’ are ineffective as many large cars just straddle the obstruction.
However, my observation is that those drivers most willing to get up to higher speeds quickest are usually found to be the ones that need to rely upon their brakes most. Hence turning most of that kinetic energy into heat and ultimately hot air!
The only way to realistically keep speeds down to that magical 17 mph (as odometers are inaccurate at slow speeds), would be to remove all speed humps and invest in a network of average speed cameras, as their installation seems the only measure to work motorists adhere to the speed limit.
On 29 March 1981 at 09:00hrs in Greenwich Park 6,700 runners set out to run the first ever London Marathon
Legally children should obtain written permission from the Chief Constable before seeking to ask “A penny for the Guy, Mister?”
On 29 March 1871 the Prince of Wales opened the Albert Hall on behalf of his mother HM Queen Victoria, who was present but too overcome with emotion to speak
On 29 March 1772 mystic Emanuel Swedenborg died in Wapping. He had predicted there would be a special part in heaven reserved for the English
The owner of Tony Blair’s old house in Barnsbury has painted the front door Labour red. Blair’s house in Connaught Square, as with No 10 is black
The famous music hall song On Mother Kelly’s Doorstep is based upon a real location that can be found at Paradise Row, Bethnal Green
London’s first gastro pub the Guinea Grill, Bruton Street opened in 1952, a tavern is believed to have existed on the site since 15th century
London’s oldest golf club is The Royal Blackheath formed by Scottish courtiers visiting Greenwich Palace in 1608 in whose ground they played
In 1952 a 78 bus was on Tower Bridge when it started to rise – the driver put his foot down and jumped the widening gap, he got £10 for his bravery
Waterloo Bridge is known as the Ladies’ Bridge, because it was completed by female labourers during the Second World War
On the corner of Trafalgar Square is the official standard (in brass) for inch/foot/yard/etc it is accurate at 62 deg Fahrenheit
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