Aberdeen City Council has been implementing measures that will ensure the safety of pedestrians and drivers, promoting lower driving speed is one of such measures. 20mph is already the mandatory speed limit in the core area of the city centre, new developments, areas around school and some residential areas currently have a mandatory speed limit of 20mph.
Aberdeen City Council will now be expanding the areas covered by 20mph speed limit citywide.
Citywide 20mph Speed Limit
20mph will now be the standard speed limit on most of the road in the built up/residential areas of Aberdeen.
Background
The Scottish Government published a ‘Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2030’ in February 2021. The Framework highlights The Scottish Government’s vision to have the best road safety performance in the world by 2030 and an ambitious long-term goal where no one is seriously injured or killed on Scottish roads by 2050. Through this framework, The Scottish Government aim to improve road safety and half road deaths by 2030 and achieve Vision Zero by 2050. To achieve this goal, the Scottish Government developed a national strategy for 20 mph zones and limits in Scotland. The strategy aims to expand 20mph speed limits across Scotland, and to ensure all appropriate roads in built-up areas have a safer speed limit of 20mph by 2025.
This strategy is expected to bring about
- a reduced perception of road danger
- increase the level of walking and cycling in neighbourhoods, thereby promoting active travel
- a change in social and cultural attitudes towards vehicular speed and road safety as a 20mph speed limit will be the norm in urban areas
- reduced collision risk and severity
- reduced carbon emissions from vehicles etc
Assessment criteria
To ensure consistency across the nation, the Scottish Government provided a guideline for local authorities to use in assessing their roads and to determine where the 20mph speed reduction is applicable.
Below are the criteria prescribed by the Scottish Government for road assessment:
a) Roads within 100m walk of an educational setting (e.g. primary, secondary, further & higher education)
b) Roads where the number of residential and/or retail premises fronting it (on one or both sides) exceeds 20 over a continuous length of between 400 - 600m.
c) Roads within 100m walk of a community centre, church, place of worship, sports facility, any hospital, GP or health centre.
d) Roads where the composition of users implies a lower speed of 20 mph will improve the conditions and facilities for vulnerable road users and other mode shift (reflect on future plans such as active and sustainable travel, places for people, consider existing and potential levels of vulnerable road users)
e) Where the road environment, surrounding environment, community and quality of life impact (e.g. severance, noise, or air quality) will be improved by implementing 20mph speed limits.
It is proposed that the speed limit in majority of the residential areas in Aberdeen will now be 20mph.
20mph speed limit assessment in Aberdeen
Aberdeen City Council employed a consultant who conducted a citywide assessment of the roads in Aberdeen to determine where speed limit reduction to 20mph is appropriate, using the above criteria.
Following this assessment, many of the current 30mph roads within in residential areas will be reduced to 20mph.
Current situation
Officers have commenced the traffic regulation order (TRO) process necessary for the implementation of the 20mph speed limit. Citywide implementation will be done in phases, this is due to the scale of the work required to introduce the driving restrictions. The TRO proposal will be done according to Council wards, implementation will start from the north of the city and will progress southwards until completed.
It is anticipated that implementation of 20mph speed limits will be completed by December 2025.
A consultation exercise is ongoing for the wards below:
- Dyce / Bucksburn / Danestone
- Bridge of Don
- Kingswells / Sheddocksley / Summerhill
- Northfield / Mastrick North
- Hilton / Woodside / Stockethill
- Tillydrone / Seaton / Old Aberdeen
The next set of wards that will be processed for a 20mph speed limit proposal are:
- Midstocket / Rosemount
- George St / Harbour
- Lower Deeside and
- Hazlehead / Queens Cross / Countesswells
The final set of wards we will be consulting on are:
- Airyhall / Broomhill / Garthdee
- Torry / Ferryhill and
- Kincorth / Nigg / Cove
Please refer to the link below to view our current proposal
Have Your Say Today - 20mph Speed Limit Proposal - Commonplace
Implementation
The speed limit reduction will be established by way of using temporary traffic regulation orders (TTRO) and permanent traffic regulation orders (TRO).
The use of a TRO requires that statutory consultees and members of the public are informed of the new restriction and are allowed to comment and/or object to the proposal. Whereas TTROs could be implemented as a safety measure with no initial consultation process. However, in terms of this scheme, we are seeking informal initial feedback from statutory consultees, with regards to roads where a TTRO will be proposed. Feedback, comments and objections will be reported back to the Council Net Zero, Environment and Transport Committee prior to any proposals proceeding to implementation.
Using local knowledge, Aberdeen City Council will be proposing a permanent TRO on every road where it is clear a 20mph speed limit is appropriate.
Certain other roads have been found to meet the place criteria, or link sections of roads that meets place criteria, thereby encouraging a more consistent reduction in speed across a wider area, however, introducing 20mph speed limit on such roads is likely to be more challenging; that is to say, a speed limit should be self-explaining and seek to reinforce people’s assessment of what is a safe speed to travel. For such roads, Officers propose that the 20mph speed limit is promoted using a TTRO.
The use of a TTRO on the roads with the characteristics stated above will give the residents time to experience the speed reduction, whilst giving Officers the opportunity to monitor the compliance and practicality of the 20mph speed limit.
The implementation of the citywide 20mph speed limit will be done in phases due to the scale of the work required to introduce this driving restriction. The TRO proposal will be done according to wards, implementation will start from the north of the city and will progress southwards until all affected roads are covered. It is anticipated that a citywide implementation of 20mph speed limit will be completed by December 2025.
Implementation will be done using traffic signs and road markings. No traffic calming measures are proposed within the initial scheme.
Monitoring and evaluation
A pre and post implementation vehicular speed survey will be conducted on strategic routes, this will help us determine the impact, compliance and effectiveness of the speed reductions. Each of the roads where a 20mph speed reduction has been proposed using a TTRO will also be surveyed, and the result of the survey will be used to determine/decide whether the 20mph speed limit should be refined or modified by:
- length and/or width.
- introducing additional speed management measures; or used as an opportunity to implement local plans that are complemented by the lower speed limit, such as active travel measures.
- accepting that the road is not appropriate and reverted to a speed limit of 30 mph.
The post implementation survey will be conducted after drivers and residents have had the opportunity to experience the new speed limit. This usually takes around six months; hence, post implementation survey will be conducted around six months after its implementation.