Aberdeen City Council has been implementing measures that will improve safety of those walking, wheeling and driving, 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 schools, and some residential areas.
Aberdeen City Council will now be expanding the areas covered by 20mph speed limit more widely across the city. 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, wheeling and cycling in neighbourhoods, thereby promoting active travel;
- improved fuel efficiency;
- 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;
- better air quality as there will be reduced emissions from vehicles.
Assessment criteria
To ensure consistency across the nation, the Scottish Government provided guidelines for local authorities to use in assessing their roads and to determine where the 20mph speed reduction is most appropriate.
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 400m - 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 city-wide 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 recently concluded the traffic regulation order (TRO) process necessary for the implementation of the 20mph speed limit in six northern wards:
- Dyce/Bucksburn/Danestone;
- Bridge of Don;
- Kingswells/Sheddocksley/Summerhill;
- Northfield/Mastrick North;
- Hilton/Woodside/Stockethill;
- Tillydrone/Seaton/Old Aberdeen.
A TRO has been made for a total of 490 streets within the electoral wards listed above, with implementation to follow soon.
It was decided to conduct the TRO process in phases as this will help council officers manage the scale of the work required to introduce the 20mph speed limit driving restrictions. Officers are currently in the process of promoting a TRO for the rest of the city, this TRO is for streets that have been identified to meet the Scottish Government’s criteria.
The Electoral Wards currently being processed for 20mph speed limit restriction are:
- Midstocket/Rosemount
- George St/Harbour
- Lower Deeside
- Hazlehead/Queen's Cross/Countesswells
- Airyhall/Broomhill/Garthdee
- Torry/Ferryhill
- Kincorth/Nigg/Cove
Implementation
It is anticipated that implementation of 20mph speed limits will be completed by December 2025.
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. TTROs could be implemented as a safety measure with no initial consultation process. However, in terms of this scheme, council officers are seeking informal initial feedback from 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 are proposing 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 as 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, council 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 council officers the opportunity to monitor the compliance and practicality of the 20mph speed limit.
Implementation will be done using traffic signs and road markings. No traffic calming measures are proposed within the initial scheme.
Monitoring and evaluation
Pre and post implementation vehicular speed monitoring will be conducted on strategic routes, this will help council officers 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;
- 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. A post implementation survey will be conducted about six months after its implementation.