EU citizens begin petition for 20mph urban speed limit

Lambeth council has resisted calls for a 20mph speed limit across the borough which would help traffic flow, reduce pollution and of course reduce collisions and fatalities. This is particularly important as road deaths in Lambeth have trebled.

However there is now an initiative at EU level. Gathering 1 million petition signatures will require serious consideration of this by the EU Commission. 55,000 UK names are needed.

The EU Parliament has already endorsed its Road Safety Strategy that "strongly recommends 20mph limits for urban roads where no separate facilities exist for cyclists"

The safety campaign 20's Plenty for Us, are using the new European Citizen's Initiative (ECI) "30kmh - making streets liveable!" to ask that 20mph/30kmh speed limits become the norm for all urban and residential roads. The EU Commission must
consider this initiative seriously when 1 million signatures are submitted.

20's Plenty for Us are on a pan-European "citizen's committee" who have one year to gain a minimum of 1m signatures (on paper or on-line) across at least 7 EU countries, including a minimum of 54,750 in the UK.

8.3m people in some of the UK's most iconic cities already live in communities adopting this policy. 30mph limits are deemed inappropriate for most of their roads. With 170 local campaign branches around the UK, 20's Plenty for Us works with many community, health, transport and safety organisations across the private, public and voluntary sectors.

This comes in time for Road Safety Week 2012 - 19-26 November with its Go20 campaign in support of 20mph limits. Our aim is for 1m signatures by Road Safety Week 2013.

You can find out more by visiting the www.30kmh.eu website.